Children don't lie
by Little-Firestar84
Summary: Sometimes, all you need to move on is a push in the right direction, and, who knows, maybe it can be even in the form of A5 years old nice, and a simple question:"Mr Patrick, are you going to become my uncle?" Jisbon all the way, now complete!
1. Annie

Silly one-shot I come up with duirng one of my insomniac crysis last week... Don't own, don't sue.

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In life, there are many kinds of drugs, and, one thing Teresa Lisbon will always be glad of, caffeine is the legal kind; her coffee routine in the morning was something she had never allowed anyone to ruin, and even Jane had learned, in time, that, the only thing to do in order to have a calm and quiet Teresa Lisbon, was offering her a cup of coffee and let her drink it in peace.

"Teresa, I need to go, Anne is in labor, look after Claire" It happened so quickly that she didn't even had the time to register that the youngest of her brothers, Michael, had run in her office without knocking, spoke with her (making confision with the names of hte girl and of his wife, too), left on her couch his five years old daughter and run away without even bothering to wait for her to reply or to close the door at his back.

"Hi Aunt Tessie - Anne said, giggling a little, hiding as many shy kids behind a stuffed pony that seemed even bigger than her – daddy said I have to be good, because the baby is coming!"

"Yes honey – she said with a bit of hesitation, not too convinced by what she was going to say, but still kneeling in front of the child, pointing at her – And this evening, as soon I'll be off duty, we'll go to visit mummy and the baby, ok?" Damn, she really didn't need that. Yes, the day had been relatively quiet, no murders, ransoms or any other particularly cruel crime, just paperwork, but it was only 10 in the morning, and she still had at least 7 hours to go… and now, she still had 7 hours to go and a 5 years old to take care of.

"Who was the man who left your office running? Was he some lover you scared to death? Please don't tell me you threatened him with your gun like you always do with me, because… Oh! - Figures, Lisbon thought rolling her eyes. Patrick Jane never bothered to knock when the door was closed, why would he when it was open? And why bother to check if someone was inside, besides her? – Look, Look who we have here! Such a lovely girl, Hi, what's the name of such a beautiful princess?- Lisbon was already on her feet, sending him one of her death-glares, while he had took her place, kneeling at Anne's side, doing one of his tricks involving coins with her.- no, wait, I bet I can tell you what's your name."

"But you don't know me!" Anne pointed out, still giggling, and for a moment, a brief moment, Lisbon could actually see him with his daughter, and what a stunning dad he probably had been.

"Yes, but, I'm going to tell you a secret, because, you see- he paused, looking around and whispering, like it was really a secret or something serious – I can read minds!"

"No one can read minds, silly!"

"What? Oh, you hurt me, young lady! I'll show you and this unfaithful woman that I can, indeed, read minds! – Patrick turned half serious, looking deeply in the girl's eyes, one hand on his forehead, like faking some kind of psychic contact – mmm… you are… Agent Lisbon's niece… - Teresa rolled her eyes even more, since he did know she was her nice, with her picture on her desk, it was quite obvious – you are… 5 years old, and were born…mmm… on…march, I'd say…23? No, not 23, you celebrated it the 23rd, but you were born on March the 19th… your mother is having a baby, and, even if you don't know if it will be a boy or a girl, you don't care, because you just want to be an older sister… and your name is… Anne Teresa Lisbon!"

"Nice, now you don't have enough of annoying me, you have to do it with my nice as well!"

She gasped in surprise, all excited, and looked at the man and then at her aunt and then at him again "Yes! My name is Anne Teresa Lisbon, what's your name?"

"I'm Patrick Jane, sweetheart."

"Are you a special agent like Aunt Tessie?"

"No, I'm a consultant; it means I help your aunt. I work with…"

"For" Lisbon corrected him

"You'd not close half the case you do if not for me! Give me at least the pleasure of thinking that I'm, indeed, part of your team, and not a mere tool in your hands."

"Funny, I'd say the same things of you, because, sometimes, I have the impression that we are your tools, Jane"

"Ah, please! You're just mad because I don't tell you about my plans. The only reason I keep them secret it's because I know you don't want to go along with them in the first place!"

"Oh, good, so now it's my fault if I'm risking of getting fired!"

"ah, c'mon, you know that Hightower suspended you just to prove a point, and not even directly to you."

"Yeah, because the world resolved around Patrick Jane, right?"

"Of course it was an indirect way of threatening me! She hoped to keep me in line by doing so, but she doesn't know me well enough. There are skeletons in her closet, and, believe me Lisbon, if she dares to put in danger your work, I'll not hesitate to turn on my charm and my psychic abilities for your good!"

"You're not a psychic, Jane, AND you'll not do your mentalist thing with _our _boss!"

"Oh, please! She'd never see that coming! Hightower may believe to be a strong woman, but she is human as us all… and a woman. And it's common knowledge that no woman can resist me. After all, I'm the one that gets always what he wants, right, my dear Lisbon?"

"You know, sometimes I ask myself why I keep trying to put some sense in that head of yours. You don't… seriously Jane, why do you have to always annoy me this way?"

"Bah, I don't think that 2 or 3 times each day could be defined as always…"

"Are you in love with Aunt Tessie?"

Lisbon turned towards the girl they had forgotten about in horror, unable to understand where she could have got that absurd idea. Jane in love with her… and maybe Pegasus was real. "Annie! That's not the way you should talk with a person you've never met before! It's not polite!"

"I'm stunned, Anne. Tell me, why you think I may be in love with your aunt?" he asked, calm, like he was talking about ice cream or a cartoon.

"Daddy says that boys annoy girls to get their attention when they love them. He says that Tommy Green in kindergarten likes me because he keeps annoying me. - she paused for a while, then turned back to the main topic she seemed to care so much about – Mr. Patrick, are you going to become my uncle?"

"A…a…A…Annie!" Lisbon felt on the pavement, while Jane's Cheshire grin got bigger and bigger, grinning almost like a maniac.

"Lisbon, I'm trying to have a conversation with Annie! It's not polite to interfere, when two people are talking… now Annie – he said turning back to the girl – why did you ask me if I'll become your uncle?"

"Aunt Tessie always talks about you when she comes visit. Mummy says she is always sad, until she tells them something funny you did to catch the bad guy, and she smiles. Daddy says you make her life a living hell… you'll not tell daddy I say that word? He doesn't want to!"

"No honey, we'll not tell your daddy about this, but I'm curious, what does your daddy say?"

"Daddy says you make her life a living hell, but that you make her very, very, very happy as well, and that, since she always talks about you, she loves you. – She paused again – are you two getting married? Claire Danvers went at her aunt's wedding, and she always tells us how she thrown petals on the pavement of the church. I want to throw petals me too!"

"A…a…A…Annie! I don't talk about Jane all the time! It can happen – Lisbon said still on the pavement- but only when I talk with your dad of a case! And besides, eavesdropping it's not nice!"

"I'm not lying! You always talk about Mr. Patrick!"

"Yes Lisbon, children don't lie! And you don't lie to a child either, it's not polite!"

"Are you going to become my uncle?" Anne asked again.

"You want to know a secret, Annie?" he got closer again, whispering into her ears so that Lisbon couldn't listen to them, and, as soon as he did, giggling, she run out of the room, going to sit on his couch, her pony in her lap, waiting for him to call her back in.

"Jane, what the hell do you think you are doing? I know that you always behave like a 5 years old, but it's not a good enough reason to keep playing with a real 5 years old telling her stories!" she almost snapped, as he joined her on the pavement where she still was.

"Technically speaking, she did the whole talk; I just asked her a question. And you lied. She said you always talk about me, and you dared to deny it. You called her a liar, and Annie is not so impressed with her aunt Tessie any longer. –he grinned, and looked at her with one of those enlightening smiles of his – she prefers her uncle Patrick now"

"Jane, you're not her uncle"

"Yet"

"Jane, you are, and never will be, her uncle."

"But when we'll get married I'll do become her uncle, Tessie"

"Don't Tessie me, Jane, you're not a 5 years old!"

"But you always say I'm like a 5 years old, Lisbon! Do you even mean what you say, Tessie?"

"Well, too bad 5 years old can't get married!"

"Lisbon, are you saying you want to marry me? I'm stunned! I knew you've been fascinated by me the second we met eye to eye!"

"Jane, I've never…"

"You know, it's kind of weird, but you didn't deny loving me - he said, out of the blue, looking at her with that damn smile on, and, with the look, and the words, and everything else… the damn butterflies were back, and… - you're blushing! How cute! You'll make a lovely bride! And our children… with my intelligence, and your look, our children will conquer the world!"

"I'm not…!" She wasn't exactly sure what she was going to say, but, it hadn't to be so important, since a mere peck on her lips of his lips, a peck of, what, 3, 4 seconds, made her forget everything.

"Be ready at 9, and put on something nice!" he said as he was already out of her office, leaving her speechless and in trance on the pavement, looking in front of her like a statue.

"Ehy, Annie, listen - he said to the girl as he sat close to her on his sofa – would you like to be the flowers girl when I'll marry your Aunt?"


	2. Blond hair, green eyes

From One-shot,. the story has been promoted to multi-chapter, although I'm not quite sure how many more you'll have; Many of you asked for a sequel, and so, I thought about giving Annie a bit more or space...

I just wnated to say thank you to EternalDarkness007, Laurore, Martiny carzy, Ebony10, MrsxEdwardxCullen, JackSam, phoenixmagic1, lilaclia MIA and FantasyFreak (who pointed out to me a couple of things that I took care of), who took time to review, and to everyone who put me and/ the story on alert and/or in thier fav. You're all great, and you can't imagine how happy you made me!

Anyway... here there is chapter two for you all, and, as always... I'm incredible sorry, but I still don't own the Mentalist; otherwise, we'd be seeing Jisbon there as well.

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Teresa Lisbon had always loved her job for many reasons, and, as time went on, she realized that, one of them, was the it didn't gave her time to think – and one of the thing she hated to think about the most was how lonely her life had become. Of course, she had a family; she had Michael, Tommy and Robert, 3 wonderful brothers she practically raised on her own, and Michael had made an aunt twice already, but, as much as she loved them, she was still alone. They were family, but they had their lives; she didn't have children of her own, she even didn't have a possible father for said imaginaries babies, a man who, at the end of the day, greeted her at home, with dinner, or with a hot bath, trying to erase the pain of the job, to make it feel better. _Jane _wasn't at home every night with her. He didn't cuddle her in her sleep. He didn't surprise her with dinners, picnics, or vacancies organized at the moment…

Sitting outside Claire's hospital room at 7 pm, Lisbon released a breath she didn't know she was holding in the first place. She liked Patrick Jane. And she liked him like a woman like a man she isn't related to. She had feelings for him, a certain kind of feelings.

She smiled a little, thinking that certain warriors, when admitting defeat at the hand of a braver warrior, would smile in the same way; yes, she was, in a certain way, admitting defeat; Patrick Jane, annoying, pain in the ass consultant, had took a special place in hearth, without she could do anything about it, without she could understand it before it was too late. She had deep feelings for him, she could only acknowledge it, and it felt damn good to admit it, like a weight had finally been lifted from her shoulders.

To be honest, if she really had to think about it twice, it wasn't such a big surprise; she had already had thoughts about him, a certain kind of thought that, thanks to God, she had never talked about with Michael(she had told Claire, though, one day they were alone, alone, having dinner after a therapeutic session of prenatal shopping, and her sister in law had sworn to secrecy since Lisbon promised to not tell Michael that, during the pregnancies, his wife used to have sordid dreams about Brad Pitt, an actor called Eddie Cahill and Keanu Reeves playing the role of a British top-secret spy), but she never gave seconds thought to that, since they were mere recreations of the romance novels she always red before to go in bed, with Jane and her as the main characters, and the only reason she was having them in the first place was for the lack of a "romantic life" during the last year, so, it was obvious why she had put him, one of the men she was in contact with, as the lead protagonist( although Claire has asked her why not dreaming of Cho or Rigsby, if that was the only reason she was having the dreams…and it was such a good question, that Teresa hadn't found an answer yet). And those dreams… well, they were really good dreams, and he was good as well in the dreams, she admitted smiling and blushing, but the dreams were one things, while dealing with Jane in reality, it was completely different…. And, frankly, the thought was a bit scary too…

"Aunt Tessie? - Annie was still sitting on her lap, and she had totally forgotten of her nice again, for the second time of the day, too lost in Jane-world; it took the girl's squeeze of her sleeve to bring back to reality – can we see the baby now?"

"Of… Of course we can, sugar! – As she stood and walked hand in hand with Annie, Lisbon smiled her best smile, like she would fake some kind of security she was no longer feeling, feeling, instead, like the idiot she has never been, the teen-aged girl in love who lost track of everything because all she could think of was her prince charming…- Annie, can you do something for me, please?" before to go in, Lisbon kneeled so that she could be at eye-level with Annie, and, uneasy with the whole situation, she bit her lips, not so sure of what exactly she had to tell her niece, or how to explain her reasoning, has Annie asked her why.

As she kept the pony in her arms, holding it like to dear life, Annie just nodded, lifting her eyebrows with a look that Lisbon identified as a mix of understanding and curiosity.

"Don't tell daddy and mummy about what Mr. Patrick said, ok?"

"But Mr. Patrick and mummy and daddy say that lying isn't good – Annie lowered her voice, getting closer to her aunt – and bad people go to Hell, that's what sister Mary and Father Joseph always say!"

"But you'd not lie to them, Annie. Lying is when you say something and that thing didn't happen, or happened in a different way. What I'm asking you to do is just… forgetting what Mr. Patrick told you today, ok?" She smiled to the child, a bit guilty since she was actually teaching her to lie, but knowing too well, after having raised the 3 younger siblings, how to get what she wanted from a child, and, in response, Annie giggled like she had at the office, when Patrick had introduced himself, and didn't wait for her aunt to get in, running at the crib of her baby sibling, and putting inside her beloved pony as a gift to the kid.

"Claire, how can you be still so beautiful when you just gave birth? – She asked with a smile and joy in her voice to her sister-in-law as she approached the bed, giving to the blonde woman a quick kiss on the cheek, just to turn to her brother, giving him a death-glare, still a bit uneasy with how the whole Annie situation ended – Mick, next time you need someone to baby-sit Annie because you're freaking out about something, I'd rather have you calling me first, and not dropping her in my office without any warning. You know, there that little detail, about me being a cop, and spending my time chasing bad guys…"

"Can I hold the baby?" Annie asked out of the blue, turning to look at her father who had come to take the baby; the man just smiled, and, whispered something in the ears of the too excited girl, took the baby and put the child in care of the aunt.

"Here – Mick looked with tears in his eyes as Teresa, who looked happier than he had seen her in a long time, was adjusting the baby, a blonde angel like his mother with his father's green eyes, in her arms so that they were both comfortable – Tessie, let me introduce to you Antony Edward Lisbon…"

"Oh, looks like daddy finally got his boy, doesn't it?" Even if Tony was too young to smile, she was sure that, while she was gently tickling his stomach, smiling and giggling was exactly what he was doing, and Teresa couldn't help but giggle in response, smiling, laughing and crying of happiness at the same time, overcome by the emotions felt during the day, the memory of that quick kiss still impressed in her mind, and the promises he had made her at words, and the unspoken ones he had made with his eyes…

"Wow, I've never noticed it whit Annie, but Tessie is quite natural with children…." Mick told his wife, while lost in the sight of his sister carrying the baby in her arms, gently singing him a song while still tickling him with one single finger under his tiny feet.

"Your sister will be a great mother, one day"

"Is Aunt Tessie going to have a child with Mr. Patrick?" Annie asked calmly like it was the most natural thing to say in the whole universe, awakening her aunt from the day-dream she had fallen again into.

_Lord. _What was wrong with Annie if that day she always had to say something inopportune at the wrong time? And why had the girl talked of Patrick, since her aunt had been clear about not to… and then it struck her: Annie was quite literal, as a person, and when you said something to her, you had to specify it, otherwise… Teresa had told her to not say what Patrick said and did, not to not mention him at all….

"She had met Pa… Jane – she corrected herself as she put Tony back in her father's arms – yes, she had met Jane at the office today, and you know, five years old bonding and all, and now she is kind of obsessed with him…" he so didn't need to know that his sister was obsessed with him as well, had spent the whole day thumbing about the fact that she was going to have a date with him, that he had kissed her, and, mostly, it was better if Mick didn't know that the reason she had been so lost in Tony was that, with blond hair and green eyes, he seemed a combination of herself and Jane as well…

"And since she is the one obsessed with him, she asked you if you're going to have a baby with the man?" Mick grinned, enjoying making Teresa uncomfortable, but lifting his eyebrows quizzically as well, asking if his sister was, maybe, hiding something…

"He is not my boyfriend!" she said with the same tone she had that day at the rehab, when he had said the 3 words that, even if for showing, made her knees jelly; even back then, even if they weren't a couple at the time, she didn't know why, but she felt uneasy in saying those words, she felt they were… wrong, a lie; as she mentally added an unspoken "yet" at her statement about Jane's status, another epiphany hit her: even when she wasn't dreaming of him in a novelistic landscape, she was still dreaming of Jane; all those times she had day-dreamed about an husband, about having a family with a good man, he had always been him, and the children, even when it was just them, they were blonde with green eyes, or brunette with blue ones; it had always been him, maybe not from the beginning, but, still, the dreams had started a long time ago. Maybe, all it took was Annie to see it. After all, she had never seen him with a kid before, and she had always thought that he'd be… scared, broken, destroyed. But he hadn't: Jane had been perfect with Annie. He had been the way a father should be with his own daughter.

Smiling, Teresa quickly said goodbye to the Lisbon family, promising to come back soon, and went home, thinking about just two things: her imminent date with Jane, and how put in motion the events so that the dreams could become true…


	3. Don't deny it, don't lie to me

From One-shot,. the story has been promoted to multi-chapter, although I'm not quite sure how many more you'll have; Many of you asked for a sequel, and so, I thought about giving Annie a bit more or space (even if she is only mentioned once in this chapter)... and, of course, I've decided to gie a way more space to the marvelous Jisbon romance!

I just wanted to say thank you to: EternalDarkness007, Laurore, Martiny carzy, JackSam, , LOLY POP, LeeLou09 who took time to review, and to everyone who put me and/ the story on alert and/or in thier fav. You're all great, and you can't imagine how happy you made me!

Anyway... here there is chapter 3 for you all, and, as always... I'm incredible sorry, but I still don't own the Mentalist; otherwise, we'd be seeing Jisbon there as well; I don't own the resturant "The Kitchen" from Sacramento either, and, that's a real shame, their strawberries with cream, chocolate and shortbread... yep, I'm a sucker for strawberries! There's Romeo and Juleit in this chapter as well, and I don't happen to own this incredible Sackesperian drama as well...

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As soon as she arrived at home, the realization of what was going to happen hit Lisbon, along with the time: she had spent the entire day at work and then at the hospital, allowing herself just a quick lunch in order to make Annie eat something that could be closed to "edible" or "healthy", (because, if there was one thing Claire was obsessed with, it was food; besides, she had already lost the mantle of favorite family member in favor of Jane, and Annie wasn't the kind of kid who hold a grudge for too long) and now, stopping smiling like the idiot she had turned into, she had less than an hour to get a shower, shave, apply make-up, find the perfect dress that could impress Jane enough, and… and she stopped to run on the stairs and come back in the living room, looking, stunned, at the brand new dress hanger that was there, leaning against the back of her sofa, with a small envelope with her name on.

Almost scared, Lisbon took the envelope in her hands, and started to giggle like a schoolgirl as soon as she realized who wrote it: the linear, ordinate, elegant and classy calligraphy was unique, and, even if the man was totally against paperwork, she was able to recognize it everywhere; she didn't even need to check the signature to confirm her suspects: _Jane._

Carefully, she opened it, and read every word, every line, giggling and smiling, forgetting about everything, focused only on the piece of paper in her hands, on the man who wrote said piece of paper and the epiphanies of the day.

_My dear Teresa,_

_I'm well aware of the fact that such a beautiful creature has to possesses something appropriated for our evening together, but I thought that, with everything that went on today, I'd save you the problem of spending too much time wondering what you should wear – besides, you helped me so much in so many occasions, and this is the least I can do for you. I hope you'll like it, and don't feel offended._

_Don't worry, I didn't ask Van Pelt your size: it's just, after so long, I know you. I may not know everything about you, but I'm looking forward to, my dear…_

_Just remember, I may have said them while flirting, but I meant every word I said today, and even more. Wait for me, my beautiful Teresa; I'll be there soon… Patrick._

_p.s. Even if I'd put it back there, I'd remove the spare key from under the doormat; it's not exactly the safest place to put it._

For the second time in the day, she left out a breath she didn't know she was holding, and, even if she was, indeed, in a relative hurry, she couldn't resist the temptation to look immediately to what he had took for her; she zipped down the protection of the dress, and found the most amazing thing she had ever seen in her whole life: a knee-length silk red cocktail dress, sleeveless, cut just under the breast, a bit in empire style, with a flying gown that looked like a cloud; she skimmed over the soft fabric, lingering over it, giggling as she had never done before: Jane was really doing a number on her, making her feel like never in her life before, and, to her surprise, it wasn't the scary feeling she thought she could get while thinking about Patrick; of course, it was… weird, but, as soon as she run again on the stairs, in direction of her bedroom, she understood that what she was feeling at the moment was something different: trepidation. She was going to go on a date with Patrick Jane, and she was dying waiting for the moment he'd knocked at her door…

As soon as he arrived at her home, Jane started doing something he hadn't had the luxury to do all day long: he thought; the finger was there, an inch from the doorbell, ready to press the button, but found himself unable to; sweat started to appear on his forehead, as he finally understood the enormity of it: he was going out with Lisbon, as in Teresa Lisbon; the problem wasn't that she was his boss, it didn't really mattered that much, the problem was… Teresa was stunning, beautiful, breath-taking, caring, deep, funny, one of the few people who got along with him, always too busy taking care of others to think about herself, self-questioning, and… and those weren't even half of her qualities. And the fact that he could actually find so many qualities in a woman was, indeed, scary, since, last time he had done something like that, he ended married…

But, he thought smiling as he decided to be brave, this was Lisbon, and all the qualities he was listing were, indeed, qualities he loved in her, qualities that made him love her. Yes, he was in love; admitting it wasn't such an issue, not any longer, at least; there was, after all, a reason behind his flirting with her, and his feelings for her was the main reason he liked so much bickering with the petite brunette. At the beginning, he couldn't even allow himself to admit this kind of emotional… defeat… also because he saw it as a betrayal of his wife and daughter; later, he understood that his wife and daughter loved him enough to want him happy even without them, and the main concern had become Red John: what if the crazy maniac decided to target her because of his feelings? In the rare moments he allowed him the luxury of sleep, he had dreamt of his wife and daughter many times, and, later, images of a shadow figure with a knife threatening Lisbon had took residence in his subconscious. But, he had decided, he couldn't go on like this any longer: he wasn't going to allow Red John to make him a miserable and unhappy man, he wasn't going to allow him to control his life, and he wasn't going to allow his agenda of vendetta to drive Lisbon, HIS LISBON, away from him. He trusted her, and he trusted the team: he knew that they were going to bring the monster to justice, sooner or later: there was no reason to try to kill him himself; this way, he'd just drive his precious Lisbon away, and he couldn't allow himself to, he didn't want to. She was more precious than his vendetta. Besides, he still remembered how it felt to be a loved husband and a caring father, and the delicious and a bit devilish creature who had took residence in Lisbon's office during the day had just made the memory more stronger. He remembered the feeling, and he wanted to feel that way again… and he wanted to feel it with Teresa Lisbon.

"I think that, at this point, you should ring the doorbell - His finger was still not touching said item, when she opened the door, smiling and happy, enlightening with her presence the room – sorry, it's just that I saw you, keeping walking on the patio, and…"

"Wow…" he looked at her like he had looked at her only once, at that charity event when she had wore an evening dress that made her stunning, but, differently from that time, he did it in front of her, and not from the distance; Teresa giggled again like a schoolgirl, biting her crimson lips for the emotion, taken back by how Jane looked; she had never seen him speechless, never so hit by something, and, mostly, never by her.

"Thanks for the dress, Patrick, it's really beautiful. You didn't need to spend money for me." She said smiling, even if she was flattered and quite glad he had, indeed, spent money for her, noticing that the both of them had no problem at all shifting from the work-related "Lisbon" and "Jane" to the more casual "Patrick" and "Teresa".

"It's not the dress to be beautiful, Teresa – he said hand-kissing her without breaking eye-contact, making her melt – you are the one who makes it beautiful. You could make look beautiful even an old truck suit. After all, like Juliet said, _what's in a name? That which we call a rose, would smell as sweet if it had any other name_".

"Thanks- She finally managed to say between giggles, as she took the key, closing the door at her back; she was already going in direction of the car, his car for once, when he stopped her, taking her for a wrist, forcing Lisbon to turn towards him, a gentle shade of pink on her cheeks, an unsure smile on her lips, green eyes lost into blue ones – Patrick?"

"Let me admire you for just another second, because I want to imprint this vision in my mind for the rest of my life." He said sincerely, smiling of a real smile, something rare, as he got closer to her, and leaned over the woman so that they were at eye-level; she was, indeed, a vision, a vision for sore eyes (and, one time, she had indeed been a vision for sore eyes, when she took care of him while he was blind, when he saw her, first thing first, as he regained his precious gift) or, at least, so she was for him, and he found himself wondering if the other men thought the same of her, or if it was a birth of his mind, triggered by his feelings. She was wearing the red dress that fitted her perfectly, with a pair of black medium heels sandals (that showed light pink polished nails) with a matching handbag; she had applied the right amount of make-up, just had a pair of small earrings and her cross, and she smelled the smell he loved so much, a mix of citrus, roses and Lisbon…

As soon as he pulled away, smiling again at her, she immediately missed the contact, the heat irradiated by his chest, the security she felt in that short, intimate moment.

"So, where are we going?" Finally, Teresa recomposed herself, and managed to ask him the question that had been in her mind for the whole day.

"That, my dear – he said as he started to act as the usual Patrick Jane again, his everlasting smirk back on – is a surprise…"

For once, he respected the speed limits, not wanting to drive her mad, just wanting to enjoy her presence at his side the longest possible, the enduring silence, not a bit embarrassing, the not so occasionally glances they kept sending each other, the soft touches, the feel he had when she put an hand on his thigh, like to assure him she was still there, and the feel she had when he did the same…

"Seriously, Patrick, where are we going? We have already left Sacramento…"

"Teresa, Teresa, Teresa, I though you've already learned that, when it comes to me, patience is a virtue you have to master in every possible way…" Accepting his answer and falling in silence again, Lisbon laughed as he said so, joined soon by him: they both knew that he was only "faking" the role of the Patrick Jane he had been for many, the Patrick she had never believe to, the man she had seen through…

"Here we are" as he parked the car near a city park, she realized they were in a city at 30-something minutes from Sacramento, called Woodland; when he hold the door open for her, she left the car, wondering what he had planned, and why he was suddenly looking for something in the trunk of his light blue car.

"Patrick, what are we doing here? I thought you said…"

He didn't allowed her to end the sentence, just took her for her hand, and walked hand in hand in direction of a mass of emerald glass between old trees; with her surprise, she realized that what he had took from the car was a basket, and that everything was already set in motion for the perfect romantic picnic: a soft, warm blanket was waiting for them on the grass, surrounded by candles, and a portable stereo was waiting just for Jane to press the "start" button…. "I told you to be nice, which let me tell you, you always are. I'm sure that I never mentioned something about a restaurant… because I never thought about it in the first place. We both deserve something special for our first date and this is the most special thing I could think of."

"But how… when… I mean…" she looked stunned, speechless, but the light in her eyes told him that she was happy, and he immediately understood that it was the first time a man did something like that for her; he mentally thought about all the morons she had dated in the past, wondering how they could have been so idiot that they weren't even able to make her happy…

"A guy I know, who owns me a couple, happens to live here…" He helped her to sit on the soft blanket, like it was something indispensable, she couldn't do on her own, too precious to do such a simple action on her own; neither of them was wearing the mask they put on the day they met, like, even back then, they could already say that it was in their destinies to be in each other's arms, and they were too scared to face it. Taking his time, he sat at her side, and, without removing his eyes from her figure, he slowly removed few selected items from the basket… sea scallops Carpaccio with Peas, sweet potatoes with Crusted Salmon, and

A transparent Tupperware with, inside…

"They are Strawberries with cream, chocolate and shortbread from the Kitchen!" she said astonished, tempted to go directly to the last course.

"I've been told that you were wishing to visit The Kitchen, but never had time to, so I thought, if Mohamed can't go to the mountain, the mountain will be brought to Mohamed… -he smiled genuinely, happy that he had the right idea and that she was appreciating his efforts so much, and paused a little, before to offer her a glass of the red wine he took from the box – Here; I hope you'll like it, because I've never tried this before, but I've been told that the Tuscany 3 from 2007 is an excellent red, it should taste like a mix of Sangiovese, Merlot and Cabernet…"

"Aren't you supposed to have white with fish?" she asked, although smiling while enjoying the particular taste of the beverage.

"Seriously, Teresa, tell me one time I stuck to the rules."

"Point taken- she paused, and, even if she still smiled, lips and eyes, he knew that her tone, and what she was going to say, was serious, and was, somehow, troubling her – you know, there was any need to show off…" he didn't need to read minds to know what she thought: she wanted to stay with her feet on the ground, knowing that it was too good to be real or to last; her life had been so hard, that she was still a child when she had learned that seeing your dreams coming true is a rare event.

"Showing off, dear Teresa is what I do day after day, at work, when I want to impress you. - he was serious, no trace of the Patrick Jane she had seen for so long, and suffered for and with; he offered her his fork, making her taste the salmon, and then went on – as I told you, this is for the both of us. I want to build a good memory. I want you to feel as special as you are. And I want to never forget the first woman who made me realize that I could still love." A hint of sadness descended on the both of them, but for different reasons, and Jane felt the need to clarify his actions to make her realize that he wasn't ling, that she had been, indeed, the first woman who had drove him to such conclusions.

"They were friends, Teresa; I may have gone to dinner with them, but I never had a date. It's you, Teresa. It has always been you…"

"It's just that… it's crazy – she turned to look away, overcome by the feelings she realized he had for her, scared by them and by the consequences – we shouldn't… and we can't… besides, you're so perfect, and it will only make things harder when…." She covered her face with her hands, and cried, crying all the tears she didn't want to show him, but she really couldn't avoid it… it was too much.

"Teresa, do you love me? He said, his hands on her own, forcing her to look at him in the eyes.

"It's pointless, admitting it out loud will only make things harder when…"

"Just say yes or not, Teresa – he gently silenced her with his words, a low voice that sounded broken and desperate – stop denying the truth, Teresa. You always tell Annie that she shouldn't lie… even if you are an adult, you shouldn't lie as well. Please Teresa, tell me the truth. Tell me how you feel..."

The tears were still in her eyes, when, smiling, she opened them, and put her right on Jane's cheek, finding his right one with her left, interlacing their fingers. "I love you, Patrick"

"Then, it's enough – without stopping to look at her in the eyes, in what was one of the most intimate moments of her life, he moved her right to his lips, and kissed, one by one, her fingers, before to go on – knowing that you love me back is enough to stop me from wanting Red John dead. I'd never intentionally hurt you, Teresa, you have to know that, and I know that killing him would tear you apart. Besides- he said feeding her with a strawberry with chocolate, his voice still low, but no longer desperate – my happiness will be the best revenge…"

Lisbon closed her eyes a little in anticipation, when she realized that he was leaning towards her; she bit her lips, making him shiver in emotion, as his hands found their way on her naked shoulders, her soft, pale skin, in her dark hair, tracing lines on her skin, on her whole body, like it was a map; Lisbon's finger, instead, were planted, steady, in his blonde hair, in the soft curls she had dreamt of touching for so long…

Hesitantly and tentatively, he kissed her once, like during the day at the office, a mere peck, but, as soon s they parted, she looked in his eyes for a mere second, and come back to him, wanting more, _needing_ more…

When they smiled in the kiss, laughing, finally happy, they fingers got together once again, and in that moment, she realized that, even without words, she'd know that he was telling her the truth… His wedding band was gone.

* * *

A quick, quick note: I didn't invented Lisbon's dress, and, if you happen to wnat to check it out, you can find it at

http:// thegloss. com/ files/2008 /11/ windowslivewriter5under50 holidaycocktaildresses- 10758scarlett- nite- surplice-red-cocktail-dress-2. jpg

obvisouly, with no spaces!


	4. Aftermath

From One-shot,. the story has been promoted to multi-chapter, although I'm not quite sure how many more you'll have; Many of you asked for a sequel, and so, I thought about giving Annie a bit more or space (even if she is only mentioned once in this chapter)... and, of course, I've decided to gie a way more space to the marvelous Jisbon romance, even if I have to say, I apologize for the short chapter.

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who wrote a review and/or added the story on fav and/pr alert... you guys are amazing, and, as always, I wnat you all to remember one thing and one only: I don't own it!

* * *

That night, like the perfect gentleman he was, Jane had drove her home not too late; once at the door, she had looked at him, a bit hesitant, unsure of the next action; Lisbon wasn't sure what she should do, or what he expected her to do; did he have something in mind? Did he expect something or what? As she took a big breath, ready to go into some hybrid motor-mouth/freaking out mode, he silenced her with a simple gesture, his right index on her crimson lips.

"Just because we both know where this road will lead us, it doesn't mean that we have to take it running…. – he had given her a quick kiss on the lips, moving his hand on her cheek, and then, he had murmured in her ear, before to leave, the sweetest goodbye – goodnight, Teresa. I'll see you tomorrow… well, at this point, just later." As he reached his car, he kept walking with the head turned in her direction, and Lisbon, who was still giggling with a girl, unable to keep her emotions quiet, didn't move until he was out of sight. As she entered in her place, her back resting against the door, two thoughts were clear in her mind: she was glad that they were going to see each other in few hours (saving the heart-ache of the post first date and the eventual "do I have to call him, or do I have to wait for his call? What if I don't call? What if he doesn't call?") And, second, she didn't know how to hide her newly discovered feelings for her blonde consultant….

Not that she didn't have time to think about it during the rest of the night, since she actually thought just about it for the rest of her sleepless night; the fact that, as soon as she closed her eyes, she saw him or relived the event of the day just made her more troubled, and Annie and Tony were making it just 10 times worse: if she wasn't thinking about him in general, about the day they had, or about him as the hero of her novels, then, she was thinking of her marrying him, or her having a blonde child with green eyes with him, with Patrick carrying the child in his strong arms, sitting at her side on the bed of the hospital, while she was one of those mothers who become just simply divine during the pregnancy and… "No!" she told herself, trying to shake away the thoughts; she had enough problems facing the here and now, she didn't need to go in her personal fantasy world where she and Jane were rising a family free from the evil of the worlds, like nothing else could matter…

Besides, there was still another problem, that wasn't so small… when Van Pelt and Rigsby told her that they were in a relationship, she had to call it off for them, even if she didn't want to; she knew that they were professionals enough to keep it quiet and to not let it interfere with the job, but, unfortunately, rules were rules, and Hightower hated her enough, without two members of her team breaking the non-fraternization rule. Too bad at the moment there were 4 members of her team breaking, in different times, said rule; she and Jane were going to take it slow, and they were going to keep it a secret the longest possible, but she knew that it was just a matter of time; sooner or later, they'd be forced to share the news. Frankly, she couldn't wait to tell everyone about it, even only to make her brothers stop to organize blind-dates for her. Besides, there was this feeling in her stomach, that desire to scream to the entire world that she was in love with Patrick Jane; smiling a bit, and looking at the red dress that was now leaning against the mirror on the wall, she remembered when, younger, she had believed to be in love… now she knew she had been wrong at the time. That, what she had with Jane, was love.

Like Lisbon, Jane was struggling as well, even if for a different reason. All the things he had told her, all the things he had done, were, indeed, true; he loved her, and he didn't want to hurt her. He had really decided to abandon his quest for revenge. That wasn't the problem; if he had to be honest with himself, it wasn't really a problem at all; it was just… weird. He had stopped to live for so long, he had never allowed himself to think to the after, and now, here he was, concentrated on it with all his heart, doing something he had never done in the previous years, something he had said to everyone he couldn't, didn't want, to do.

"I hope you'll understand that I'm not going to forget you. You've been my first love, and you'll always be my daughter, but… - he paused, as he kneeled in front of the red face, looking at it like he had done times and times in so many years – I know that it's in part my fault. I'll always blame myself for what happened, but… my hand didn't kill you, now I know. Men are potentially evil, but, at the end of the days, they can decide what to do with their lives, you can call it free will, you can call morality… I didn't kill you; the man behind the mask of Red John did it. He had a choice, and he chose to become a killer. I know I did mistakes, but… - he paused again, passing a hand through his blonde locks – I know it's not right that I'm still alive while you two died, but I'm alive, and nothing's going to change that. I like to think that… I like to think that, wherever you are, if you are somewhere and listening to me, which I highly doubt, you'd like to see me happy. And Lisbon, Teresa… she makes me happy, as happy as I haven't been in a long time. And, the weird thing is, for some unknown reason, I seem to be able to make her happy as well"

He skimmed over the red smiley, throwing glances at the white painting on the floor. As he left the room, his jacket on one shoulder, he decided that it was something that it could still wait; he had done enough for a day.


	5. Doctor's order

From One-shot,. the story has been promoted to multi-chapter, although I'm not quite sure how many more you'll have; Many of you asked for a sequel, and so, I thought about giving Annie a bit more or space (even if she is not mentioned once in this chapter)... and, of course, I've decided to gie a way more space to the marvelous Jisbon romance, even if I have to say, I apologize for the short chapter.

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who wrote a review and/or added the story on fav and/pr alert... you guys are amazing, and, as always, I wnat you all to remember one thing and one only: I don't own it!

* * *

After that first date, both Lisbon and Jane built a particular routine; they kept behaving as always at work, having little arguments, Jane being Jane, annoying each other, bickering and so on (apparently, they'd become quite good at acting, since they had denied their feelings for so long),and Jane even come to put on his wedding ring to not alert Van Pelt's inner alarms; but, sometimes, they glanced at each other when no one was looking, they had lingered touches while walking side by side, there were times when Jane went on Lisbon's couch, or allowed his precious girlfriend to sit on his own; on a couple of occasions, he had dared to come into her office, close the blinds and ventured to her desk, stealing few passionate kisses…

Then, at the end of the day, they waited for each other to leave, and they went somewhere to dinner, or at her place, and talk, and talk, and talk, telling each other everything, opening up utterly and completely.

That, until a month after the first date, when the mess hit the fan: that day, everything changed.

For the second time in more or less a month, Lisbon find herself in the same hospital, even if this time the occasion was different, as different was her mood; last time, waiting for news of the baby, she'd been ecstatic, now, she was mad behind description, and with Jane, of all.

Standing in front of his bed at crossed arms, she looked as the doctor finished to put together the cast that covered a good half of his right leg; he was incredible: how dared he to look at her like a kid, when he had been the one who didn't listened to her orders in the first place? She had told him to stay in the car, that the guy was dangerous, but he didn't listen to her, and he had decided to go to check on the sick SOB on his own (because apparently, the fact that she'd been in Police for more than 10 years meant that she wasn't able to look after herself, especially when she had a vest on!), obtaining, as a result, that the guy had decided to run over him in order to slow them down, which resulted in Jane being hospitalized with a broken legs and one month of crutches (that, if he got better, otherwise, the doctor had already described to them the necessary surgery).

"Mr. Jane will need help for a while; his right leg will not have to touch the soil for 20 days, as long as he have the cast; he'll have to use the crutches for a month or so, and, as soon as he'll be free, if he doesn't want to risk the muscle, he'll have to do a bit of physiotherapy, I'd say from 4 to 5 hours each week.- the doctor, a blonde man in his early forties, Jesse Travis, looked at Lisbon, giving her a piece of paper – those are the drugs he'll have to take; it's an injection each 24 hours, preferably at evening, to help the blood circulation. It has to be done on the stomach, so he could even ménage that on his own, for 3 weeks – Travis paused, as he saw her speechless and confused – I thought that…he said…"

"Yeah, she is my girlfriend. I'm her man, you know? She is mine, mine, mine, all mines, my Terrie! Aren't you, Lisbon? You're my personal Terrie!- rumbling like a drunk, he turned to face the doctor, pointing at him – you know, I'd like to escape to Vegas and elope with her, but I know that she'd freak out if I'd ask, so I'm taking it for me…"

"Good Lord, how many painkillers did you get him? - As soon as she understood the situation, she calmed down a bit, and started to have a different kind of freak-out, the one where she was usually worried about him, and run to his bed, massaging his forehead, like he was a sick baby, until she realized that he was too relaxed in her arms, and moaning a bit too much in her arms, to be a relax inducted by drugs- Jane! All you had to do was asking me to help you out for a while!"

"Well, I couldn't risk it not working, so I preferred a different kind of approach, and, since I knew you weren't going to mind it…" he smirked at her, as she moved away from the embrace, and, murmuring an "you're unbelievable" she took the piece of paper and left the room, joining her co-workers at the other side of door.

"How is he doing?" Van Pelt asked concerned.

"He has a broken leg, and he'll need to move in with someone for few weeks, and, apparently, his doctor has decided to it's up to me to take care of him, as always – fuming, she gave Grace the prescription, before to turn to come back in – Van Pelt, do you mind taking it for me? Rigsby, go to his hotel room, and take all his things."

"Yes, boss, but, where are we going to…- the poor man seemed oblivious to what Lisbon meant, and, true to be told, he wasn't helping, exactly; of course, she loved Jane (even if she was acting as she didn't, with them), and, even before to become his secret girlfriend she cared a lot, but now she was going to have him in her place, living under her roof, for a whole month, having to take care of him… and she wasn't sure if she was that comfortable with this idea; they even hadn't reached that level of intimacy yet, and now…why was Rigsby looking at her that way, and why was he going to touch her forehead?- Boss, are you ok? You're red all over the face… are you sure you're not running a fever?"

"Rigsby, I don't need you to be worried about my wellbeing! – she calmly stated with that hint of calm rage that was almost usual for her, normally directed at Jane, as she removed the hand that was a way to close to her – if there's someone to be worried about is Jane, since he'll be the one in danger of ending with a bullet in his head. Now – she crossed her arms, looking at them, as calm as possible, trying to not think about the next days – would you like to do as I asked you to?" Looking a bit scared of her boss, Grace and Rigsby left, turning their heads in her direction every now and then, to make sure she was still looking at them with that expression; just Cho was left at her side, looking with his usual neutral expression at his boss. He sent a last glance at her before to leave to go help Rigsby, and told Lisbon just two words in his usual tone, two words that made her froze, and shivering while sweating: "About time".

As she came back in, still in shock, Jane lifted, quizzically, his eyebrows at her, as soon as he saw his dear Lisbon in such a state; smiling at him, she scrolled her shoulders, murmuring a silent "No" in her head "So, ready to go home? If you'll behave, I'll let you stay on the couch!"

"Nah, you love me too much for forcing me on the couch. – He said sure of himself, the so hatred Jane-tone back on, as if someone was looking at them – you'll give me the spare bedroom, or maybe, if you'll feel brave enough, you own. Obviously, in this case, we'll share the bed. But don't worry, I'm still a gentleman with few antics, and I'm not going to force you into anything, although I'm not sure that you could resist me any longer. Or that you'd not force me into having sex with you." as he looked at her with that mischievous and malicious grin, she couldn't help but froze again, shivering again inside; or maybe, it was just the effect of his low, and lusty voice, added to the lines his finger was drawing along her arm…

Instinctively, Teresa knew that she was going to live the 3 longest weeks of her life, 3 weeks that, she was sure, were going to be unforgettable, and change her life, turning it upside down- maybe even in a good way.


	6. Nursing Jane

From One-shot,. the story has been promoted to multi-chapter, although I'm not quite sure how many more you'll have; Many of you asked for a sequel, and so, I thought about giving Annie a bit more or space (even if she is not mentioned once in this chapter)... and, of course, I've decided to gie a way more space to the marvelous Jisbon romance, even if I have to say, I apologize for the short chapter.

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who wrote a review and/or added the story on fav and/or alert... you guys are amazing, and, as always, I wnat you all to remember one thing and one only: I don't own it!

* * *

_DAY 1_

"You know, you're lucky my spare bedroom is downstairs…" Teresa grinned a bit, as she left him in, as she had done so many times in the last few weeks, when her sancta sanctorum had become Jane's as well; even if he was walking by the help of crutches, he needed her help as well, and so, Lisbon found herself walking with a man who was a way taller than her who was leaning against her petite form, and, weird thing, she didn't mind that much: from her position, she could still smell his perfume, that particular aftershave she didn't know the name of, that, even drugs and hospital hadn't been able to erase.

He collapsed on the sofa, and, before she could go to pick few items from her car, he grabbed her for a wrist and forced her to lay at his side, his right arm around her shoulders; carefully, still smiling, Teresa buried her face in his still immaculate shirt, breathing in and out, placidly, like a child, while Jane was busy playing with her hair.

"Patrick?" she said, half asleep.

"Yes, my love?"

"You're still taking the spare bedroom" she grinned, and, laughing, left her spot and went to collect his things.

_Day 2_

"Are you sure you are all right? Isn't Lisbon menacing you or something like that? You could always move in with one of us if you have any problem and…"

Jane repressed his laughs as he saw Grace being so… worried and protective, while, in her kitchen Lisbon just rolled her eyes. God, if only they knew the real reason behind his moving in with her…

"I'm not that bad!" she cried, hands on her lips, mad, unbelieving what she was hearing, from her spot, as she prepared the tea for the team, who had taken a couple of hours to visit the "poor man".

"No, it's not what I mean! What I mean it's that I think that maybe, if he just…"

"We've been here long enough- Cho said leaving the couch, sending a look at Grace that, even if it was plate as always, seemed to scare her a bit – Sorry if we disturbed you, boss. Jane, we will see you when we will see you" Without waiting for Lisbon, he left, Rigsby and Van Pelt at his back, and, suddenly, as Jane grinned, she froze: the about time of few days before really meant what she feared it meant…

_DAY 4_

"I think we should watch a movie and eat popcorn" Jane had spent the majority of the previous days sleeping, gift of the medicines he had been given at the hospital that his body hadn't metabolized yet, and playing Sudoku puzzles on her sofa; Lisbon had just left the kitchen with a cup of coffee and one of tea, of the kind he liked, and immediately noticed him being busy, looking at the DVDs on the shelf where the TV was positioned as well.

"Patrick, you shouldn't stand!" she cried as she forced him to move, at least, on the closest armchair.

"Technically, Dr. Travis said that I couldn't make force on my injured leg, not that I couldn't stand at all. - he paused, and, taking her hands in his own, he looked into Lisbon's eyes, serious- Teresa dear, you should have warned me that you are a sucker for chick flick!"

"You know Patrick- she said seductively as she took a DVD and put it in the player, without the popcorns he had asked – there are a couples of scene in The Wedding Date that are quite hot…"

When the credits were coming to an end, they were both fast asleep into each other's arms, in the same position Lisbon had found herself few days earlier. Jane woke up the next morning, feeling relaxed and fresh as he hadn't in a long time, unable to remember the dreams he had, but conscious that they had been good… Lisbon was still in his arms, smiling in his chest, dreaming of a child with blonde hair and green eyes- and he wasn't Tony.

_DAY 5_

"Teresa, Teresa, Teresa, you know you can't keep saying no to me all day long…"

"To be completely honest, Patrick – she said as she was already at the door, ready to go the office – that's my idea. Have fun on your own. Differently from you, my dear –she said sending him an air kiss – I have work to do, and I don't have the intention of calling sick to look after you. "

"But I need help in getting my shower – he sounded like 5 years old again, and she grinned, remembering where this had led last time – and you'd call in sick to see me without any clothes!"

"I'm sure you'll ménage!" she laughed, as she was already outside.

"She knows she'll not resist me, when she'll see me naked, that's the only reason she doesn't want to help me with the shower…" he said more to himself, grinning satisfied, as he made his way to the shower. He knew that he could ménage, but it wasn't such a big deal trying to seduce his girlfriend, right?

_DAY 8_

Lisbon had come home with the idea of getting a hot bath, a cup of tea (yes, Jane had been able to pass his affection for the beverage to a caffeine addicted like her) and then, a good night sleep (or, at least, she'd tried to sleep); definitely, when she come home at 11 pm, she didn't wait to see the lights still on in the kitchen, and no trace of Jane in sight; the good thing was that the lockers were still intact, so it wasn't like someone had entered in her place, but, still, she couldn't help but feel worried….

"Patrick, where are you? - she screamed, carefully walking inside; she had already her gun in hand, ready to fire, just in case, when she reached the kitchen and found what-or, better, who- she was looking for. On the floor, was Jane, who, apparently, had fallen, and hadn't been able to stand up again – Jane…?" She put her gun away, hands on her hips, clearly annoyed: a sure give-away had been her look, that was sure, but the fact that he had called him "Jane" instead of "Patrick" was a much more signal of how mad she was.

"I just wanted to cook you dinner, but then I fell…" Lisbon smiled, and, once took two plates of the now cold pasta (although she knew that the kind of pasta he had prepared was fine even cold), she went to sit, Indian style, at his side on the pavement, and, smiling, offered him a portion. "Never again, Patrick, swear"

"As you wish" he answered, with the same smile, giving her one of those quick kisses that sent her knees on jelly.

_DAY 10_

After almost a whole week spent sleepless, she decided to give up.

The first couple of days, she thought it was about work. Maybe, the murders and violence, and abuses were getting at her… then, she realized she wasn't having any particular case, and understood where the problem lies: it all started when she had slept with Jane. After having spent another good hour rolling in bed, she woke up, mad at herself, and mortified as well, and, her pillow in hand, she went downstairs; she smiled a bit, when she saw him sleeping on the left side of the bed (even if single, she still picked a side, even in her own bed, when alone, the right one), and, tiptoeing, in silence, went to bed at his side.

She had just gone under the covers, when she felt an arm grapping her, moving her towards his chest; turning so that they were face to face, she smiled, and, given him a quick kiss, she went to sleep in the same position of few days before…

_DAY 11- MORNING_

"Jane!" she creamed, while jumping out of bed, a part of the blanket to cover the body that, even if partially covered by the short pajamas, she still felt too exposed.

He smirked at her, without leaving his spot in the bed, hands behind his head. "C'mon, it's just a morning thing…"

"A morning thing is having breakfast! This ...this…this…"

"I'd say this is the normal, physiological and automatic response of a male body that finds it pressed against a female one. – she left the room, blushing, hoping that he wasn't seeing it – besides, it's not like you didn't feel flattered or enjoyed it!" As his screams were over, Jane's face was hit by a pillow.

"Ehy, even if I'm injured, I'm still a man…"

_DAY 11- EVENING_

"Look, look who we have here, the prodigal daughter…" he smiled at her, as she reached the bed.

"Listen- she said, answering to his 100 watt smile, reaching him under the covers – don't see too much in this, ok? I'm doing it for you, the only reason I'm here it's because I want to sleep well…"

"So, you're not here because you find me irresistible?"

"Not a chance" she smiled, and signed the sentence kissing him, fully on the lips.

_Day 15_

"Is that one of my shirts?"

With a smile that told "I'm sexy and I know it" she walked on "her" side of the bed, and, once under the cover, did what the first night he had done, reaching for him, and resting against his chest like he was a pillow, extremely close.

"I run off of nightclothes"

"And you decided to put on one of my shirts?" he said, frowning a little. He definitely liked the shivers he was having, but not in that moment, when he still couldn't do a thing about them.

"They are comfortable"

"Do you realize that putting on her man's shirt in the sexiest thing a woman could do?"

"Seriously, Patrick, how inexperienced you think I am?" she kissed him quickly on the lips, like they had done many times, only, that time he was the one with the knees on jelly.

"Ok, I got it, I got it, you're still upset for the last mornings… but you know, this isn't exactly going to help in that department…"

"Is it embarrassing you?"

"A bit, yes"

"Then I reached my goal"

_DAY 16_

"You know, you actually look… - Rigsby had again gone to visit Jane, and, as he looked at him deeply, he paused, a quizzical look on his face as he studied his friend's dreamy expression – you look rested. I thought you suffered of insomnia."

"You know the Side effects of painkillers…- he lied, hoping that Rigsby couldn't notice his look at Theresa, who was taking her coffee in the kitchen – sometimes they can kill you…"

"I bet you take a dose that could kill a mammoth…"

"Yeah, a knock-out dose, definitely…"

_DAY 19_

Before she could fall asleep, Teresa said just few words to him, as he held her in his embrace, thinking he was already in the land of Morpheus.

"I'll miss having you at home, Patrick" as she kissed his naked chest, he knew what she meant, and that, probably, that had be one of the most honest statement referred to him about him as well.

_Day 20-Morning_

"I can't believe I'm finally getting rid of you! I think we should celebrate. – She smiled as they left the hospital, Jane helped by a cane – I'll have again total possession of my beloved house! I'll not have to worry about the bath, how much I'll have to cover myself; I could come back to coffee once again!" Smiling, he shook his head, knowing too well what the last 20 days had meant for the both of them- especially the last 20 nights.

_Day 21- morning_

Jane had just come back from a walk, and, checking the answer machine, noticed a message; smiling, he pressed the replay button, enjoying it while sitting on his room's favorite chair.

_Patrick, call me back, we need to talk._

He dialed her number, still smiling, and a happy, content, quiet and real smile.

"Ehy – he sweetly said, hearing her sleepy voice. – I just got your message, what's going on?"

_How did you sleep this night? _

"It was a hell, because you weren't' here. What about you?"

_The same here: It was horrible, worst then the first nights I had you here, but I wasn't sleeping with you._

"I know – he paused – I already miss you"

_I missed you who whole night _she sweetly told him.

"Teresa, someone could say you have a dirty mind..." he joked

_Oh, when I'll show you my dirty mind, you'll love it, Patrick…_ - she stopped to laugh, and, for a moment, they both were in silence, trying to find words the express what they felt – _Patrick, how do you feel about packing your things and moving in with me?_

"My dear – he said as he sent a look at his still undone suitcase –I'm already on my way…"


	7. Unexpected Guest

From One-shot,. the story has been promoted to multi-chapter, although I'm not quite sure how many more you'll have; Many of you asked for a sequel, and so, I thought about giving Annie a bit more or space (even if she is not mentioned once in this chapter, but, don't worry, she'll be abck in the next one!)... and, of course, I've decided to gie a way more space to the marvelous Jisbon romance, even if I have to say, I apologize for the short chapter.

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who wrote a review and/or added the story on fav and/or alert... you guys are amazing, and, as always, I want you all to remember one thing and one only: I don't own it!

* * *

Jane knew that, of all her brothers, Mick was the one Lisbon was closer to, either because he was the youngest of the pack, or because he was the one who had choose to maintain his sister as a prominent part of his life, choosing to live in the neighbor, and having her as one of the maids at his wedding and then asking her to be the godmother of his daughter, Annie.

So, it was a bit of surprise that Mick didn't show up during the whole 20 days deal, and neither for two weeks after he "moved in" with Lisbon…

Not that it was a real moving in; he still had his place (in the sense that he still had his home, _that_ home, and his room, where he used to sleep, which Lisbon hated with all her heart), and stayed with Lisbon only until the early hours of the day. They were exclusive, and they were official, but, yet, they weren't.

That, until, on the second week, Mick decided to show up at her place, on Friday, when they were both off duty, the only day of the week that Jane slept in (because, after years of insomnia, he had come to enjoy sleeping again, and didn't feel like giving it up) and took time to take a shower at her – and with her as well, and when all hell broke loose, she was cooking them breakfast, just in underwear and a robe, her hair still a little wet, barefoot.

"Bo! - Mick had noticed the blissful state his sister was in, and hadn't resist the temptation to scream in her right ear, while she was so busy that she couldn't even notice that he had come in with his spare key- Ah, Tessie, I still don't understand how can you be such a good cup, when I can scare you so easily!"

Teresa was now facing Mick, as white in face as a ghost, in total silence, a bit shocked; her eyes were focused one moment on him, one moment to a point at his shoulders, and the man couldn't understand why she seemed so taken back by his presence, until he heard a voice coming from the point she was so deeply looking at, and a man, leaving the room he knew was the bathroom, dressed with just a towel around his hips and another towel that he was using to dry a bit his face and his hair.

"Teresa, have you seen my aftershave? I can't find it, but I'd swore I put in on… - At this point, Teresa was already covering her face with her hands, preying in silence, and Jane had finally decided to remove the towel from his face, while Mick… well, Mick didn't know if he was supposed to laugh or kill the man – Oh, Hi. Am I interrupting something?"

"Actually, I think I should be the one saying the line, you know – Mick gave a look at Teresa, at his back, and then looked to Jane, crossing his arms, not taking the hand Jane was offering – So, I assume you're Jane…" he said studying the man in front of him, like he was a piece of meat, like a cobra studies his prey.

"The one and only"

"Thanks to God" Teresa whispered, still unsure of what to say and who she was supposed to look at.

"Well, now at least I know why Annie always asks me weird questions about the two of you…- he paused a little, then turned towards Teresa – so, when were you planning on telling me that you are living with him?"

"Actually, I still have my place. I just spend the night here. - Both Lisbon's sent him death glare, but for totally different reasons – because I suffer of insomnia, and I tend of doing stupid things when I don't sleep, so your sister what to keep an eye on me."

"Sure" he scrolled, not buying a mere word of the whole sentence.

"Of course, there's that little detail, the fact that I can't sleep when I'm away from her and she can't sleep when she isn't in my arms – he smiled one of those smiles that he had for her in the past, half false and half true, getting closer to her and hugging her – right, love?"

"I was planning of telling you, Mick, really, but, so much happened and…"

"Next Sunday, we are going to Christianize Tony, you'll be his Godmother – he paused, pointing at her – I hope you'll not mind but we thought to give the children the same godparents, so it's you and Tommy again"

"May I come? I'm looking forward to meet your family! – Left Teresa, Jane reached Mick, and shook hands with him like they were old friends – and Annie… oh, your daughter is such a beautiful creature! She is incredibly smart, for her age!"

"Yeah, she, Ehm, speaks highly of you as well…"

"Mick, there was no need to tell him that. He is well aware of the impact he has on members of the female sex of all ages." Teresa was smiling a bit, more relaxed, even if she was still putting a bit of sarcasm in the conversation.

"Well, it's not like Claire would need evidences, but, ehy, who am I to not give my wife the satisfaction of being right? - As he grinned a bit, his shoulders no longer tense, Teresa looked indignant at her laughing siblings – well, we bet you weren't in love with him…" as he said so, he moved towards the door, and, just before to leave, he stopped for a millisecond, collapsing then in laughs and tears.

"Did I miss something?" Jane asked him while shaking hands to say goodbye.

"Oh, no, it's just that, I understood because Tessie was so fond of Tony. – he looked at Jane and laughed more – Tessie, wow, I bet he'll freak out when he'll find out… Man, you definitely have to join us!"

"Shut up! And next time – she cried as she closed the door with all the force she could get, leaving her still laughing brother out – call before to come!"

"Why should I freak out about Tony? - he said as he followed her in the kitchen; he didn't need to be a real psych to say that she was upset for something, and that something was what Mick had said; it wasn't even that he had found out his sister was living with a man! - Teresa, seriously, why does your brother think that I'll freak out about your godson?"

"Nothing, Mick never thinks, he tends to not wire brain and mouth, just, forget it and go put on some clothes before I could do something inappropriate in my kitchen, will you?" She took a cup of coffee, and kept it strongly in her hands, like it was guilty of something.

"It's not the cup's fault, Teresa – he took the cup from her hands, that were shaking, so much she was upset – Teresa, what's the matter?"

"Nothing, it's just that, Mick didn't know we were together, and he practically caught us and then…" she said, trying to sound calm, looking at him in the eyes, even, with that voice an octave higher than normal, that said "guess what Jane, I'm lying!" better than a confession.

"No, it's not, you were smiling, you are relieved that he found out about us, and that I'll be introduced to your family as your boyfriend. You always wanted to, because you know what we have is good, and will last."

"No, really, it's that!" she tried to defended herself, but Jane was looking at her with that expression, the one he had always when he wanted to force her to admitting that she was lying…

"Teresa- his voice was low, seducing, lusty even, as he gave her a kiss on her collarbone – don't – a kiss on her neck – lie- a kiss on her mandible – again – the tip of the nose – to – her earlobe – me" and, finally, a quick peck on the lips.

Lisbon looked everywhere but at him, a bit annoyed, but still blushing, murmuring, quickly, the words that he had to ask her to repeat them because he wasn't able to understand a word of what she said.

"It's just that… there's a certain… similarity… between Tony… and us…"

"A certain… similarity?" he asked, still oblivious. Or he didn't want to understand, or he played being oblivious, or he really was oblivious.

"Yeah, Tony is, well, he has green eyes like Mick and me, and he has his mother's hair- he looked at her still a bit unsure, so she decided to clarify- Claire's blonde. So, he's a bit, like, you know… a mix of us as well."

"Are you saying he made you think about our children?" he said with his Cheshire cat grin, hugging her from behind, while the love of his life was already busy looking for a muffin.

"Jane, we don't have children" she pointed out (but with a soft smile, biting her lips in that way that send his knees to jelly), like many times she did at work, the so lovely bickering they had and they enjoyed so much cooling them down a bit.

"Yet" As he put his head on her shoulder, kissing it, she smile, remembering when she had remembered him that he wasn't her boyfriend and he had given her the same answer.

Closing his eyes, Jane took a deep breath: had she asked, he'd answer that he was inhaling her perfume, while, truth to be told; he was plotting his next move, enjoying the thought of a baby boy with blonde hair and green eyes… and of a little girl just like her mother.

But, first, he had to do something else. That afternoon, he left the office earlier than usual (meaning, not at night), and went back to the place he had called home for a long time, repeating the apologies of a couple of months before. Only, this time finishing what he had begun: the white paint was no longer resting on the pavement in its can, but was shining on the wall once covered with red smiley.

With tears in his eyes, still skimming over the now white surface, Jane took a big breath, and, mobile in hand, did the call he had waited to do for years…


	8. Aunt, I need to ask you something

From One-shot,. the story has been promoted to multi-chapter, although I'm not quite sure how many more you'll have; Many of you asked for a sequel, and so, I thought about giving a bit more of space to Annie and the marvelous Jisbon romace we're still waiting to see in "reality" ...

As always, thanks to everyone who, with reviews, or putting my and the story on alert or on fav, gave me resons to go on with this story.(And yes, faithful readers, Annie's back in this one!)

And, please, keep in mind: I still don't ow the mentalist...

* * *

"Aren't you supposed to pick this up with the godfather?" They were at a small jewelry store in Sacramento, one that was well known for being specialized in antiquity, picking the gift for the few months old Tony, who, two days later, was supposed to receive the sacrament of baptism – and Jane, was still only thinking about his plotting, even if this particular occasion was helping.

"Tommy never had taste in jewels, if I left to him choosing, he'd probably ending with one of those horrible gangster chains. - she smiled, and her eyes moved from the pieces of jewelry she was admiring to Jane – when Annie was born, he wanted to buy her something really absurd, that didn't fit her at all… you know, one of those extravagant and giant jewels, with corals and many other stone? That's the reason I don't want him around. We don't argue, and as soon as I see him, I get his half."

"Then, I guess it was your choice the Mother Mary medallion?- He whispered in her ear, as he got closer, with those absurd smile of his still on, that turned her in jelly, and that she hated so much for this simple reason; Patrick had, literally, turned her world upside down.- any idea about what you could pick for Tony?"

"I was considering the idea of looking if I could find an image of Saint Antony, since it's kind of an inside joke- she looked at him amused, seeing that she had lost him, not strange, since, until the day before, she didn't know this thing either, until she had looked for info about Saint Anthony on Wikipedia – Saint Anthony of Padua is the patron of Lisbon, the city, among the other things."

She had just finished to explain him her "crazy" idea, when the salesman, a man his middles sixties, come back, with a red velvet box in his hands.

"I think that this could be what you were looking for, Miss – he opened the box in front of her, and Teresa skimmed gently over the material, looking at it to see if that thing was really what she wanted to give to her new godson – it's a round medal in 24K gold, with St Anthony and Jesus as a child. I had it for a while now; the papers say it has been done handcrafted in Italy in 1946."

"It's beautiful" Jane said, as he saw Teresa taken by the item, as it was supposed to be for her, or something more "special".

"I'll take this"

"Good – taking back the box and putting it in a simple red paper bag, he looked at Teresa and Patrick, with a smile – may I help you two with something else?"

"No, thanks"

"Actually, yes – as Jane said so, Teresa turned to look at him, stunned, trying to understand why he was grinning as the Cheshire cat again and why he needed help from the older man – My favorite and only watch decided to stop, and I was wondering if you could give it a look…."

Jane, still smiling at Teresa (who was giving him a "what are you planning" look), gave the item to the man, who answered him smiling, a knowing smile, a smile that Lisbon didn't like a bit.

"Well, I could give it a look, but there are other customers and I think it could need a while, maybe even an hour, before I could start working on it…"

"I'll wait – he looked at Lisbon, that sweet expression on, but, still, the same expression he had when he was trying something – we come with two cars, so it's no big deal, right?"

"I guess it isn't, just, stay out of danger, ok? I don't want to have to look after you for other 20 days. - She turned back to the man, and, still thinking they were both planning something, paid for her purchase before to live. Jeez, what was wrong with the world that day? – I'll see you this evening, then."

As Lisbon was out, the man served a couple of clients, then, come back to Jane; he crossed his arms over his chest, and made only a question, smiling "So, I think we were going to discuss business, right?"

Sunday come and Jane ended in a place where he hadn't been in a long time- a church. It was more like a chapel, though, so small it was, and it was intimate, both as place and as ceremony, since, thanks to Claire's involvement with the local church, Tony received his baptism not during a Mass, like it was common standard procedure, but during a private ceremony, with his family, Father Lucas and Jane.

The blonde consultant had already met Annie and Mick, and that day, outside the church, he had the pleasure to be introduced to Claire, Annie and Tony's mother, a blonde Pixie who shared with her daughter an easy going behavior, and Robbie and Tommy, the godfather; unlike Claire, who immediately welcomed him, hugging him ecstatic, Jane was quite sure that the looks he was receiving from the Lisbon's older brother meant only one thing: they didn't like him. Everything about them screamed that dislike, from the way they shook hands, to their glances, then, as the ceremony proceed, he could notice that they were behaving as Mick had done just few days before, once discovered of Teresa's secret relationship; both men were, in fact, laughing, and weren't even trying that hard to hide it. Yes, the whole Lisbon family was laughing at him, and, frankly, Jane didn't feel the need to blame them. He knew he looked like a fool, all focused only on his Teresa, the one that, he reconsidered, was totally to blame. How many times had he told her that she was always sexy, even if only in an old track suit? Countless times, that's how many. And for the ceremony, what had she done? Not only had she made extremely beautiful and irresistible overdressing, but she had put on _his _red dress… (Even if, this time, she had complimented it with a black cardigan and closed sandals). The woman really wanted to knock him out… Evil, his Teresa was really an evil pixie.

As this thought crossed his mind, for a brief moment, their eyes met, before she turned to face Father Lucas; in that moment, he saw a scene he had only imagined until that day: his sweet, caring, dreamy and a bit goofy gaze was locked on his Teresa, who, crying tears of joy, was holding in her arms a blond infant with green eyes. The few doubts he still had went away, as he understood that what he had few days before had really been an illumination. Mick couldn't have been more wrong, when he had told him that he was going to freak out; he loved that scene, he wanted to see it again, soon, for the rest of his life, only, he didn't want to see Teresa carrying in her arms someone else's baby. She had to have _her_ child in her arms, _their_ child… yes; it was time to convince Lisbon into taking the next step into their relationship…

"Ehy, are you ok?" she asked him sweetly, smiling, as they were leaving the church; Jane looked into her eyes, sweetly, taking back tears of joy, and started to walk hands in hand towards her car.

"Nothing, just…"

"I didn't make you remember bad things, right? – She stopped, worried, and put a hand on his cheek, looking into his blue eyes – God, Patrick, I'm so sorry, I had to understand that you could have thought about…"

As he had done the first evening, he took that hand in his one, and brought it to his lips, kissing each finger "I just loved what I saw, Teresa, that's all. I'm happy."

In silence, smiling at each other, they drove to Claire and Mick's house, where a quick brunch was waiting for them; they had just parked in front of the house, when Annie run in their direction, jumping in Jane's arms, crying an enthusiastic "Mr. Patrick!" before to let him take her in his arms.

"Ah, look, look, look who we have here!" smiling and laughing, really, as he did not so often, Patrick took the giggling girl in his arms, lifting her from the floor.

"Annie, what did I told you? I thought we said you were going to behave…" Claire was complaining, as they entered in the living room with her daughter in Jane's arms, the little creature holding firmly at his neck.

"But last time, Mr. Patrick said he didn't mind!"

"Annie, how many times do we have to explain you…?"

"No, it's ok Claire, really, I don't mind. Besides- he said putting hr on the floor, near a fireplace that wasn't working – she can call me just Patrick, ok? Mr. Patrick makes me feel so old!"

"But you are old! Daddy's old and you are a way older than him!"

"Annie!" both Teresa and Claire were a bit indignant, but it wasn't like it was unexpected: Annie had come out with worst things in the past.

"No, it's ok; I like her and her attitude. - He said smiling, on his knees to be at eye-level with the child, ruffling her dark hair. – I'm kind of fond of this little pixie!"

"Yeah, because she is so much likes you…." Lisbon was looking at crossed arms the scene, laughing a bit, having the same expression she had few days earlier, when she had told Mick why Jane and Annie were getting along – and she was more sure than ever that they really were doing 5 years old bonding…

"Daddy says you are dating Aunt Tessie – she said out of the blue, still looking in to Jane's blue eyes, hands at her back – does it mean that you're going to become my uncle?"

"Annie!" Lisbon was no longer too mad, but the fact that Annie was still pushing the issue was annoying her a little, and it didn't mean that she didn't almost spitted her iced tea or that her brothers didn't suppress their laughers, as they heard the sentence or when they saw Patrick giggling ecstatic and proud, so full of himself.

"Well, honey, I don't know. It's indeed true that I'm dating your aunt, and it's a well known fact that I love her more than I love my own life, but at the end – he took a deep breath, serious, as Lisbon had fallen into silence at his back, standing against a doorframe – it's only her decision to make, don't you think?"

He regained his composure, and looked at the girl, nodding in silence in front of him, biting her lips like she was waiting for something.

"Now, back to serious business, Annie, would you like to know a secret? – She nodded, and he got closer again, whispering something in her right ear, grinning – now, that's the game, pay attention and see what happens – he did the trick of the coin again, and then, revealing it to be hidden behind her right ear, put it in her tiny hands – now, let's show aunt Terrie what you found!"

Still on his knees, Jane just turned, and looked at Annie, running to her aunt, hugging her knees.

"Aunt Tessie, Patrick wants me to ask you something" she said with the innocence that only a kid could show, giggling a little, biting the nail of her right thumb, the hand where the coin was still hidden.

"Of course, let's hear, what Patrick wants this time?" smiling, Teresa went in the same position Jane was before, looking with love and curiosity at the kid in front of her, her eyes shining like real emeralds.

Giggling a bit, Annie opened her tiny fist, reveling what Jane had put inside previously.

"He wants to know if I can be the flower girl at your wedding"

Lisbon remained at open mouth, as she saw that, inside the fist, there wasn't a coin like she expected, but a ring: a white gold ring, with a diamond at the centre and six oval rubies around it like petals, and leafs carved in gold between each petal and at the side of the flower; it wasn't an extraordinary ring with giant stones, but, yet, it wasn't that simple either. It was perfect, what she had always pictured for herself.

"I painted it, and sold the house. It was time I did it. And it's time I take control of my life again- he just explained that, no need of further words, because he knew, he knew she understood; pausing a little, he smirked, ending the sentence with a hint of humor, like the Jane she had met many years before usually did – C'mon Teresa, how did you think I would've react, seeing you with a baby who seems a mix of us?"

Waiting for few, interminable instants after ending his "speech", Jane looked at her with adoration and expectation, as, still at open mouth, Teresa took the ring form Annie's hands to study it, with tears in her eyes; Patrick had already seen her cry in the past, but her eyes were always dark and sad, this time, however, they were brighter than ever. Reaching her, he got again on his knees, on one knee, to be more accurate, without stopping to look at her, who was still at eye-level with Annie but looking at Jane, the whole time.

"Yes" she didn't stop to cry, but started to smile as well, a light laughter in the air as she pronounced the word.

"Yes, like, Annie will be the flower girl once I'll get married, or, yes, she'll be the flower girl because I will marry you?" he wasn't really asking her that, he already knew the answer, but, still, he wanted, and needed, to hear it from her lips, because it was the only way to make it real, to know that it was really going to be that way.

"Yes, I'll marry you" as she said so, she stopped to cry, and, while Jane put the sign of his promise on her left ring finger, she cupped his face with her free hand, kissing him; they felt the salt taste of their tears as they kissed, but, for once, they were good tears.

* * *

P.S. if you which to give a look at the ring Teresa's one is inspired to, you can find it at www. saleinfostore. com/images/ RingJewelry258. jpg


	9. You mainteined your promises

From One-shot,. the story has been promoted to multi-chapter, although I'm not quite sure how many more you'll have; Many of you asked for a sequel, and so, I thought about giving a bit more of space to Annie and the marvelous Jisbon romace we're still waiting to see in "reality" ...

As always, thanks to everyone who, with reviews, or putting my and the story on alert or on fav, gave me resons to go on with this story.(And yes, faithful readers, Annie's back in this one as well!)

And, please, keep in mind: I still don't ow the mentalist...

* * *

"Ok, people, listen, today, I need you to do as I'll ask you." When Van Pelt left the elevator at 8 exacts, Jane left his spot on his couch, and reached the rest of the team (the just arrived Van Pelt, Rigsby, busy eating a sandwich, and Cho, already lost in a book) in the bullpen, rubbing, satisfied, his hands together and grinning at the same time.

"Why do I have the impression that the boss will not like it?" leaning against his desk, Rigsby broke the silence for first, looking directly at Jane, a bit uncomfortable.

"Lisbon will not have anything against it, believe me. - he scrolled his shoulders, like to say, it's nothing – I know Lisbon, she could never get mad for something like this."

"I highly doubt it, but I'm curious." Cho was, as always, didn't showing any particular interest; if he hadn't actually told them that he was curios, they had never believe him…

"Are you sure she'll not get mad – as Grace asked, he just nodded, trying to seems serious – and you'll not get suspended? – another nod – and neither will Lisbon – nod – or us?- Jane nodded for the final time, before Grace looked at Cho and Rigsby and then turned to face him. . Ok, we're in, let's hear, what do you want us to do?"

"Oh, Grace, nothing. You'll have the easiest task to perform – he gave her a piece of paper with an address wrote on it – Since today is Friday and on Friday you're supposed to leave work earlier than usual, you'll just have to be at this place at 5 pm, dressing nicely, ok?" As he said so, he left, ready to prepare step 2, reaching Lisbon's office.

"Whatever you are planning, Jane, my answer is no"

Lisbon didn't lift her head from the papers she was studied, as she felt him entering in her office that Friday morning; technically, they'd be both on leave, but she was still drowning into paperwork while Jane was doing his best "I just want to annoy the hell out of Lisbon" act at the door of her office, while, truth to be told, he simply didn't had anything better to do. Besides, he needed her to be mad at him, if he wanted to set in motion the events as he wanted.

"Lisbon, Lisbon, Lisbon, you don't even know what I want to tell you!" He had it; here there was the damn smirk, a sign that everyone at office knew as a clear sign that he was, indeed, plotting something.

"I know you, Jane, and it's enough. Either you did something, or you are going to do something" As she made the mistake of looking at him in the face, Lisbon had to bite her lips to not laughing; she had been totally honest, he had indeed the expression he had when he was guilty, but this pretending thing they had going on was starting to be a bit too much, and sometimes, just sometimes, she found hard resist him; not that she felt the need to jump at him at work, just, the little things, like holding hands, hugging, the quite kisses on her hair, or, simply, being on first name basis…

"Well, Lisbon, you know me, I always get what I want…."

Yes, she admitted smiling, she knew that, because many time, in the few months they had been in a relationship, he had shown her enough times that Patrick Jane always got what he wanted…

"Any idea what he is planning?" As she left the back of the car she had driven with Cho and Rigsby, Grace was hyperventilating; she was worried, she was very, very worried, because, normally, when Jane pulled one of his stunts, things tended to not end well, and she hated when things didn't end well… her hands were sweating, and the redhead felt relieved when, smiling, Rigsby gave her a white handkerchief; he thought that she was simply stunning; listening to Jane's extravagant request, she had changed into something elegant yet simple, a grey dress, knees long, with a pattern of dark grey roses, completed by black heeled shoes, while, they he and Cho had simply changed outfit, both ending wearing a dark grey suit with a red tie.

"Knowing Jane, nothing's good will come out of this - Rigsby scratched the back of his neck, looking in the distance: no trace of Jane yet, but, in the distance, he could clearly see a small group of people… - why do you think he asked us to come here in this park of Woodland?"

"Lisbon agreed with him, and she'd never put our careers at risk. Would she risk her own one for Jane? Yes. Would she risk our own ones for him? No, she'd never do something like that, not even in a million of years. – Cho paused, s his eyes found a familiar head among the gathered people, who had left the group to approach them – Jane's coming here"

And it was in that moment that, for the first, but not last, time of the day, Grace and Rigsby remained speechless, wide-eyes and open mouth.

"Jane, you are, it's just that, you are… you always wear 3 pieces suits, but… - she paused, looking at him, dressed in a dark grey pinstripe suit with white shirt, black tie and the most elegant and expensive pair of black shoes she had never seen on a man before – wow, you're so elegant."

"Man, what's the deal? It looks like you're going to your own funeral!"

"Mr. Patrick, when are we going to start?" as a girl run at him and hugged his knees, they immediately recognized the figure, dressed with a white milk lace dress with a ivory ribbon and a fake rose at her hips, as Annie, Lisbon's niece; she was trying to convince Jane to do something, they saw it in her eyes, while she played a little with the small little basket she had in her hands, where petals of light colored flowers had been put.

"Soon, Annie, don't worry, everything will go as I told you, ok?" ruffling little or nothing her perfectly styled hair with his left, Jane smiled at the kid, and Van Pelt couldn't help but smile as well, tears of joy seeing the man she considered close to a friend or even family being finally content and at peace.

"Jane, you're not wearing the…" Rigsby hand' ended the sentence yet, that Grace, noticing the same thing, gave him a quick hit in the kidney with her elbow, hoping that Jane wasn't going to notice it."

"He had stopped to wear the ring weeks ago" Cho pointed out, as it was obvious, walking in direction of Annie and Jane, reaching them face to face.

"Really, I don't understand why he…" as he said so, again Grace hit him, just, this time, harder.

"When I'm going to throw petals? I want to throw petals!"

"If the lady and the gentleman will follow me – Jane opened his arms, showing them the group of people gathered on the grass of the park, guiding them towards the others, while leaving Annie a bit behind, on purpose – you'll soon have your moment, Annie. Cho, I'll need you assistance, if you don't mind."

As Annie stopped at their backs, so did Jane, in front of a man in his late fifties, almost martial, serious, but still easy-going, from the look, while Cho, under Jane's order, moved to the man's left, while, at his right, was standing a young woman, dressed with a yellow summer dress.

"You know, I'm confused. Normally, I get this feeling when Jane is involved, but this time, well, it's quite…"

Rigsby didn't ended the sentence, because a stereo released the notes of a well known song, a song that almost everyone knew in the world knew, even him: the classical "here comes the bride" wedding march, and soon they saw first the little girl, Annie, jumping towards Jane and who, at this point, they guessed was the master of ceremonies, throwing in the air and on the soil petals of yellow roses, and, then, a woman who was at the arm of a man who have some resemblances with Lisbon, dressed with a wedding dress that remembered Annie's one, white milk lace with a ivory ribbon at her hips, knee-long and strapless, with in her hands a bouquet of the same flowers Annie had thrown in the air; the third thing they saw was who the bride actually was, and, except Cho, both Rigsby and Van Pelt risked a heart attack.

"Ladies and Gentlemen – the man started as a smiling Lisbon joined a never so happy Jane - we are gathered here today to bring together in marriage Patrick and Teresa; they have formed a close bond of love and wish to formalize their marriage with this legal ceremony.  
Patrick and Teresa know there will be wonderful times ahead as well as challenges and their combined love and strength will help them achieve a happy and successful life together.

Both Patrick and Teresa feel they are now committed to being formally, spiritually and legally married as husband and wife.  
The experience of their love touches us all and it is fitting we should celebrate their happiness with them; this wedding gives public recognition to the private experience of their love.  
At a different level we share it, we rejoice for them and we support them. Now, who presents Teresa to be married to Patrick?"

"I do" Mick, Annie's father, said, as he looked at his sister, who was radiant, while lost in Jane's dreamy gaze.

"I, Roger Stern, with the authority vested in me as a deputy commissioner of marriages by the County of San Francisco and the State of California,

I am duly authorized to solemnize this, your marriage.  
Before you are joined together in marriage in my presence, and in the presence of these your family and friends, I am bound to remind you publicly of the solemn, serious and binding nature of the relationship into which you are about to enter; marriage, as most of us understand it, is the voluntary and full commitment of a man and woman to each other. It is made in the deepest sense to the exclusion of all others, and it is entered into with the desire, the hope and the firm intention that it will last for life – smiling at them, as he could actually seeing his words coming true by just a look at the couple, he took another breath and went on - Patrick, you have come here today to celebrate the love you have for Teresa. Do you promise to take Teresa as your wife in the special bond of matrimony, to care for her and love her through whatever may come, in your lives together as husband and wife?"

"I do" as he said so, holding her hand, Teresa did her best to avoid tears.  
"Teresa, you have come here today to celebrate the love you have for Patrick. Do you promise to take Patrick as your husband in the special bond of matrimony, to care for him and love him through whatever may come, in your lives together as husband and wife?"

"I do" she smiled, still fighting back the tears, while Jane released a breath he didn't know he was holding, making her laugh.

"Teresa, I take you to be my lawfully wedded wife; before these witnesses

I vow to love you and to care for you as long as we both shall live. I take you, with both all your faults, which aren't many, and your strengths, that you showed to have enough for the both of us, as I offer myself to you, with all my too many faults and my little to nothing strengths. I will help you when you'll need help, and I'll turn to you when I'll be the one who will need help, this time I'll really do. Teresa, I choose you as the person with whom I will spend my life."

Lisbon smiled, as she listened to his "remade" version of the traditional vows, and, talking his hand in her one, said her own, while Van Pelt cried and Rigsby hugged her forcibly.

"Patrick, I take you to be my lawfully wedded husband; before these witnesses I vow to love you and to care for you as long as we both shall live. I take you, with both all your faults and your strengths the both, as I offer myself to you, with all my faults and my strengths. I will help you when you'll need help, and I'll turn to you when I'll be the one who will need help. Patrick, I choose you as the person with whom I will spend my life."As she said so, Jane took the rings he had abruptly put into Cho's hands just a minute before, at ceremony already begun.

"Teresa- he said proud as he put the simple white gold wedding band on her finger, close to what they saw was an engagement ring - I give you this ring as a token of my endless love  
There is no Ending or Beginning to the circle on this ring  
and that's why I have chosen this ring to be a pledge to you that my love will last through all Eternity."

**"**Patrick, I give you this ring- she said with emotion as she repeated Patrick's gesture- as a token of my endless love  
There is no Ending or Beginning to the circle on this ring  
And that's why I have chosen this ring to be a pledge to you that my love will last through all Eternity."

"Patrick and Teresa, in the presence of your family and friends, you have made special promises to each other that have been symbolized by joining of hands and the giving of rings. Therefore on your behalf, on the behalf of family and friends and according to the authority invested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now both seal your marriage with a kiss - the man said, smiling, witnessing their kiss, a quick, kiss that was more like a peck on the lips, who seemed to send Lisbon's knees on jelly, who ended a second before the few gathered friends and relatives clapped their hands - May I introduce to you, for the first time, Patrick and Teresa Jane"

"Congratulations, Boss! I'm so happy for you and Jane…- Grace hugged Teresa as soon as she and Patrick had left their spot in front of the master of ceremonies, just to release her immediately, looked at her in the eyes a bit shocked – Oh My… how are we supposed to call you now?"

"Lisbon will be fine, Van Pelt, I'm not going to call my name"

"Yet" Lisbon turned, a bit annoyed, to face her 2 minutes husband, who was grinning like the Cheshire cat, like he had took the habit of doing while using the damn word.

"Not that I'm happy for you, boss, but… where we were when it happened, I mean, I've never noticed anything, and Jane had still the ring until few weeks ago…"

"He was deceiving us, Rigsby. It's simple strategy, really."

"May I see the engagement ring? Have you been together long? And, how long have you been engaged?" Lisbon was quite sure that she had never seen Grace so happy and enthusiastic for something, nor exited over someone who wasn't Rigsby…

"Yes – she said showing the co-worker the engagement ring with the diamond and the rubies – few months, and… 5 days"

"You're pregnant!" Grace's face stated to enlighten with joy the entire place, as she hugged again Lisbon.

"No, no, I'm not pregnant! Why do you all have to ask me the same question?"

"Yet"

Lisbon turned to Jane as he said again the word, then faced Grace again "It was Patrick's idea, actually. He was scared that I'd change my mind."

"Really, wasn't it the other way around, Terrie?"

"No, because I'm the only one who can keep up with you, while everyone would love to have me at their side."

"Oh, like you could resist my charm and my antics. C'mon Teresa, you know you love me for all this reasons. Consider yourself lucky, Mister."

"You mean I love you because you're an annoying jackass? – She collapsed into laughs, joined soon by Jane who kissed her, her hands around his neck and his ones around her hips –yes, I definitely love you, then…"

"Then, I guess the last thing left to do is telling Hightower, right?"

"We're still here" Cho remembered them, arms crossed in front of himself, without showing any kind of emotion, if not for a minuscule grin that appeared for a second as he showed his right to Rigsby.

"How the hell did you know it was going to end this way right from the beginning?" As he thrown few bills in his partner hand, the dark haired detective was a bit enraged and annoyed, while Cho, again, showed a small grin that disappeared as soon as he got again in control of his usual composure.

"Wayne, how much did you bet?" Grace was a bit enraged as well, while Lisbon was shocked and Jane just laughed, with his arm on his wife's shoulders.

"You were betting on us? I want to know how long it went on!"

"It started as soon as he joined our unit – Cho explained with his usual tone, looking at the newlyweds – no, he didn't bet that much, but he accumulated money with the years, since he never changed his mind – he said to Grace, before to face Rigsby again – and I've worked long enough with the both of them to know that there were only two possible scenarios: one culminating with Jane dead, the other with them married. Knowing Lisbon, the last was more likely."

"God, I'll really have to tell Hightower to promote you, sooner or later…" Teresa didn't know if laugh or being annoyed at Cho right now, since, it seemed that he had outrun her as a cop, knowing things that she wasn't even aware that were there in the first place…

"Mr. Patrick! Do you want to come to play with me and Tony?" both Grace and the rest of the team were amazed to see how bright Lisbon's smile was, when she saw her now husband scooping his "niece" in his arms, happy, with tears of joy in his eyes.

"Annie, I'm sorry, but I can't do that, and you know why?" he asked her serious, while the girl simply made sign of no with her head, sad – because you don't have to ask to Mr. Patrick to play with you. And you know why?"

She nodded, smiling, her voice higher, ecstatic "Because you promised me that you were going to become my uncle, and that I could be the flower girl at the wedding!"

"Where was I when it happened?" Teresa asked from her spot, at their side, smiling, but really curious.

"You were sitting on the floor of your office, shocked because Annie had just asked us if we were planning of getting married, but already fantasying about how your name could work with my surname"

"I wasn't!"

"Yes you were! Don' lie, Teresa, because it's pointless. I always know when you lie to me…"

"I said I wasn't!"

"As you wish, my dear, but we both know you were, so, why deny it?"

"I wasn't day-dreaming about you!" she so wanted to close the "argument" that, smirking and laughing, hit him in the chest, lightly, with her bouquet of yellow roses, white tulips and freesias and ivy.

"Oh, Teresa, you know you always day-dream about me! You used to day-dreamt about me even before Annie decided to speak her thoughts!"

"I wasn't day-dreaming…."

Hearing her names, Annie decided that it was time for her to remember the adults that she was there and, being the nicest girl of the planet, she was supposed to be the centre of their attention. "Uncle Patrick, when are you going to maintain your promise of giving me a cosine?"

Differently from the other times she had heard her niece's outburst of truth, Teresa didn't felt herself mad, but, instead, as her husband took her in his strong arms, smiling, joined him in the quiet and happy laugh that left his throat.

"Soon – Patrick said giving a quick kiss on Teresa's hair – we'll maintain our promise soon, Annie."


	10. Don't blame yourself

From One-shot,. the story has been promoted to multi-chapter, although I'm not quite sure how many more you'll have; Many of you asked for a sequel, and so, I thought about giving a bit more of space to Annie and the marvelous Jisbon romace we're still waiting to see in "reality"; I'm well aware that this chapter will be a bit diffeernt from the others, with less roanace between our favorite duo, and it will be even a bit shorter (like, probably, chapter 11 as well) but I felt that, before to go any further (because I'm not sure how many chaptars are left) I had to write this thing first, so, please, don't be too mad at me, and remmeber that I can't write soem Menatlist stuff without anything romantic in in, so, wait and hope, and you'll be rewarded...

As always, thanks to everyone who, with reviews, or putting my and the story on alert or on fav, gave me resons to go on with this story.

And, please, keep in mind: I still don't ow the mentalist...

* * *

A little after the six months anniversary, while only the team knew about the wedding, Red John decided to strike again: in Los Angeles, he had spotted a nice brunette, who was in vacancy with her boyfriend, and, as soon as Antony had left her alone to get her an ice-cream, the man behind the mask had took away from him Ziva, letting then Jane know he was the one having her.

That same day, Tony was sitting on Jane's couch at the CBI headquarter, looking at his feet, hands in his brown-blond hair, with no tear left to cry over the woman of his life, who was, probably, already dead. Seeing him in this state, made Jane remember the day following his first wife's death, and how important Teresa was for him, how losing her could have been the first step into losing his mind all over again… only, this time, he knew that it's be once and for all.

But there was something in Antony's eyes, something that said that he believed in Ziva, that he knew she was going to come back to him. Jane didn't want to keep up false hopes, but a part of him didn't know if it was right or wrong, telling the poor man, who was younger than him, that his beloved was probably gone by now.

"You don't know Ziva, who she is, what she is capable of – Tony opened his eyes and looked at Jane, full of hope, and sure of what he was telling – if this man has been that crazy to take Ziva, he's not going to make it"

The poor man kept repeating the same things over and over, and Jane thought that, like him until few months before, the young Dinozzo was driven by vengeance, that he just meant that, given the occasion, Red John would end as his victim. Less than a day later he first met Tony, he understood what he really meant; for the precision, he understood as soon as Dinozzo's phone rang, and the young man frantically answered it. As soon as he was walking across the room, nervous but somehow relieved, the whole team was around him.

"Ziva doesn't know where she is, she asks to trace the call. - He just told Lisbon, who was, like the others, at open mouth: had the killer finally made a mistake, or was it just the doing of some copycat? – No, no, I'll tell them you have all the time… no, Ziva, you don't need to… it's not up to you! Ziva, how many times do I have to tell you… ok, ok, I'll tell them that, are sure you are ok? No, I'm not…. Ok, ok, as you want… no, no, I'll tell them, ok, yes, I said, ok. How many times do I have to tell you? No, it's not how you're supposed to say that, sorry… ok, ok, I'll tell them, yes… Ziva, how am I supposed to keep it from the boss? No, I'll not tell your dad… Ziva, I don't even talk with your dad in the first place!"

As soon as Rigsby gave them the address, Ziva closed the call, saying she needed quiet to take back control; while the CBI team left, Tony joined them, and, smiling a bit, of a sad smile, muttering something that Jane told he hadn't understood correctly.

The woman hadn't said that much over the phone, not even to her boyfriend, claiming she needed to rest a bit and she wanted to be left alone until they weren't there. The team assumed that, somehow, she escaped; while they drove towards the point where Ziva had been traced, they even thought that, maybe, it wasn't really Red John, but just a copycat or something like that, but., since Red John had himself contacted Jane to make sure he knew her was the one having the girl, it still didn't make any sense; the only option left was that the killer had really made a mistake, allowing the woman to escape. When they finally reached the "crime scene", they understood that they were, on many fronts, wrong.

Inside an old warehouse, the found Ziva, a brunette in her middle thirties, busy hugging her knees and crying a lifetime of tears, who, even if in clear shock, seemed to ménage to maintain a certain degree of composure; she was bruised and wounded, there were signs of cord on her wrists and ankles, evidence that she had been tied up, but, worst thing, on her neck a small red sign was making good show of itself, demonstration, along with a single, small drop of scarlet blood that someone had, indeed, tried to hurt her, to kill her, with a knife. She didn't say a word, only, with her head, indicated them a point in the dark, opposite to where she was; when they got closer to the point she had indicated, the whole team remained speechless, and Jane understood that the word muttered by Tony, the word he thought he had misunderstood, was really what it looked like, and, in his mind, everything made sense; Red John had really make a mistake, because he had taken the wrong person. Tony had really said the word "Mossad"…

They weren't suppose to officially know this particular, thought, but the couple decided to share it; apparently, Red John had decided to take away a woman on the spur of the moment, and, in doing so, he hadn't realized that he was kidnapping a special agent currently in force at the Naval Criminal Investigation Service (where she was partnered with whom they found out was her boyfriend, Special Agent Antony Dinozzo), a special agent who had previously been employee as a Mossad top-level agent, an agent of the best secret service of the world…. There was a weird, twisted kind of irony, in the fact that Red John had been found there, on the cold soil, in a pool of his own blood, murdered by his own knife in the same way he was planning of murdering Ziva, killed by that same woman...

Jane collapsed on the soil, knees in that blood, as pale as never before, hiding his face with his palms, and the only thing Lisbon could think of was holding him from the back, head on his shoulder; while Tony took his girlfriend in his arms, Jane cried all the rears he hadn't cried in the years between the death of his beloved ones and the one of the monster who had took them away.

"It's over, Patrick, it's finally over…" as his wife said so, Jane allowed himself to rest in her chest, in her petite form, still crying.

Almost 24 hours later, Lisbon called Jane into her office, and forced her husband to sit on the sofa; kneeling in front of him, she crossed her arms on his knees, resting her head on her elbows, filling him on what the team had found out about the so-called Red John, spending the previous two days awake.

Jonathan Louis Stern was 42 years old at the time of his death, a middle-low working class of downtown LA, a worker in a small garage, with history of abuses as a child, an higher QI that no one gave a damn about; apparently, Stern had passed years going from foster home to foster home, collecting a criminal record as long as the Bible, with offences that went from robbery to theft to burglary, from maltreatment of animals to harassment, with a few issues with drugs, something that, eventually, ended bringing him to Juvenile… until he become a legal adult, and seemed to have taken the good road, leaving his old life behind.

Nothing was more far from the truth: everything Jonathan had gone trough had made him develop psychic problems, who didn't get along too well with his already existing violent tendencies; he started to fantasize about killing people, to hurt them as he had been hurt as a kid, and even more. One day, he gave up, making those fantasies real, hoping that he would have stopped them in the first place. Obviously, he was wrong, and even Stern was aware of this fact, since there were clues that he had been tried to receive help from doctors first, hoping that they could understand his problems and stop him before it was too late, seeing behind the mask of the poor little hurt guy, and, alter, to few psychs as well, thinking that, just looking at him, they could say who he was and what he was doing, stopping him: they didn't, making him understand that they were all frauds.

At this point, he no longer felt guilty, but only craved the feel of the blood of his victims, not any longer driven by the need of getting rid of his fantasies, but simply by the thrill he felt while looking life abandoning the bodies.

Jane, it come out, wasn't one of the psychs he had contacted, but was a psych, a fraud who assumed to know everything there was to know about Red John; he enraged the psycho to a point that Stern had decided to destroy him beyond repair, and what better way to break a man than taking away from him what he cares about the most?

Killing Jane directly had never been part of Stern's plan; even if breaking him wasn't enough, even if he wanted to see Jane dead, he didn't want to kill him; he just wanted to drive the man so insane, to make him feel so guilty for the loss of his family, that he had to see the suicide as the only available option, and when it didn't work, Red John forced the battle of wits to begin, becoming better with each strike, telling Jane that each murder was his own fault…the more he killed, the better he got, until he kidnapped the wrong person.

As she finished the story, they both remained in silence, Jane looking in the void, his hands holding his pants firmly, Teresa looking at him with wet eyes. Without breaking eye-contact, she cupped his face with her hands, forcing Jane to look into her eyes, blue meeting green.

"Don't you dare, Patrick – she said sweetly but firmly, repeating the words a second time to make her point – don't you dare to think it's your fault. Stern had a choice, and no one but him told him he had to kill all those people."

"I know, but, still…" he cried again, as he tried to explain her how he felt, but, standing, she abruptly stopped him from going any further, lifting her voice of an octave at least, so mad that tears were leaving her yes.

"Patrick, no, no one forced him to become a killer! Nothing justifies what he did! Do you know how many times my dad beat me and the boys while he was so drunk that after he didn't even remember it? I've lost count, Patrick, but look at us; we didn't fill our criminal records! – She got back on her knee, taking his hands on her owns, looking into Patrick's eyes once again – Before you cross paths, he was already killing. He killed more than we thought, Patrick… pleased, just, please, don't think it's your fault."

As their eyes locked, Patrick lifted Teresa from her spot, making her sit in his lap; as they hugged like for eternity, as he hold her like for dear life, he kissed the top of her head, finally relieved., whispering into her hair. "It's over; he'll never threaten our lives, never again, never again…"

It was almost morning when they made it home, after they had finished all the paperwork of the case, with Hightower allowing the whole team a couple of days of rest, so that they could really relax for the first time in years, knowing that Red John wasn't going to hit again, never…

As they hugged in bed for the rest of the day, the tensions of the last few days finally gone, both Teresa and Patrick decided it was time to maintain the last promise they had made to Annie: with Red John gone, there wasn't any longer a reason for not having a real, proper family…

* * *

AN: For the ones of you who don't know it, Ziva David and Tony Dinozzo are two of the main characters in the CBS Show "NCIS"; A former mossad agent turned NCIS liason firts and agent Later the first, a former detective turned ncis special agent Tony, there had been hint of roamnce between the two of them for seasons and seasons, with nothung really said about what could go on between them...


	11. I'll fight for us

From One-shot,. the story has been promoted to multi-chapter, although I'm not quite sure how many more you'll have; Many of you asked for a sequel, and so, I thought about giving a bit more of space to Annie and the marvelous Jisbon romace we're still waiting to see in "reality"; I'm well aware that I said this chapter was going to be a bit shorte, and, in my defence, I still thought it was going to be, untill I started to write it, and I realised it was coming to life on its own, without I could do anything about it...

Still no Annie, though (she'll be back in the next chapters), but I've finally decided to make Hightower appear...

As always, thanks to everyone who, with reviews, or putting my and the story on alert or on fav, gave me resons to go on with this story.

And, please, keep in mind: I still don't ow the mentalist...

* * *

As soon as the investigation about Stern's death had been declared closed, with Special Agent David cleared of all charges (it had been pretty clear right from the beginning that the woman had acted only in self-defense, while facing a well known and extremely dangerous serial killer), Patrick and Teresa decided to throw the protections in the garbage, meaning, it was time to tell Hightower about the marriage.

Jane, on his side, didn't care too much about what the big boss was going to say; he was ready to show her that there was no article that said that relationships between a senior agent and his/her _civil _consultant weren't allowed; worst case, had she decided to throw in their faces some kind of legal technicality, he already had in his jacket his resignations (not that Teresa was aware of this fact, she didn't need to, she was already too nervous as things were). Was this unfortunate scenario going to become true, he knew he'd have missed her and having his Teresa around the whole day, bickering as colleagues by day and as a couple by night, but he knew it was worth it. Besides, they were already trying to have a baby, so, once he or she was born, he would have time for the little kid and the little kid only…

Teresa, on her side, was nervous, even if Patrick was sure that defining her as "nervous" was some kind of rhetoric figure, since she was a way beyond that point. Once they had decided to confess, she was done sleeping, spending her night moving in their bed or walking in circles in the house, multiplying, against all his advices, of a good 3 times her daily caffeine dose, which just made her sleeping issues worse (his idea that his now forgotten insomniac problems were the worst thing a human could go through had left his mind, after having seen Teresa in this unfortunate state of mind.)

On Monday, the poor man was busy holding Teresa's sweating right hand, trying to calm her down a bit and avoid a freak-out in front of their boss; his idea of calming her down didn't seem to work, though, since, the more he tried to comfort her, the more agitated she was, since Teresa was sure he was trying the opposite of what he claimed he was doing because he had always enjoyed, not so secretly, seeing her nervous. "Teresa, darling, the fact that I find you adorable when you're nervous doesn't mean that I'm actually trying to make you nervous right now – he told her while rubbing the skin of her wrist, knowing too well what she thought before she could be even aware of what she had thought in the first place) - you know I don't have such a death wish, right?" Giving her his best grin, he kissed the skin of said wrist he was still holding, making her sure he was indeed trying to make her nervous, and obtaining only to make her turn in a certain shade of dark pink that was pretty adorable, and that has driven him crazy for her in the first place a long time before.

"And here I thought it was the idea of sleeping on the couch, all alone and on your own, for an undetermined amount of time…." Biting her lips in that way who drove him to have very inappropriate thoughts about the two of them and her office, she smiled, a bit more comfortable, suppressing a laugh after heard the guttural sound her husband had emitted while she had done that action that, she knew, had almost an aphrodisiac effect on him. She sat at his side on Hightower's couch, and allowed her husband to nuzzle her, and, suddenly, when their met, all the calmness of the previous, probably, 30 seconds, went again away, vanishing like it hadn't been there to begin with, and, again, Teresa was walking across the whole office, frantically, biting the skin of one of her fingers like a nervous child, suddenly totally focused on her feet and her hands; If Patrick though that his little statement of honesty could have a calming effect on his wife, he found out that he had been, obviously, wrong.

"Teresa, here" he was serious and resolute, calm, while only indicating the seat where she had been until moments before, and, Teresa had to admit, it was rare: Patrick had been serious only about Red John before, and then with her, in the moments they were alone, and seeing this aspect of him just made things worse for her: she was sure that there was something about at least one of them contractually obligated to be in freak-out mode.

"Patrick, it's just that, I want you to understand, there are things I'm not ready to give up, now or never – she took her seat, the one he had indicated her, and looked t him in the eyes, being totally honest like he had always asked her to; she took a brief pause, and, understanding where her husband's mind was probably going, she took a big breath and went on, clarifying her position – I'm not talking about work, Patrick, not just work, at least. Of course I love my work, but what I don't want to give up is working with you." Smiling one of those sad smiles he knew so well, Teresa cupped his face with a hand, and he put his hand on her one, kissing in tenderly, like many times before, like it was pretty usual for them.

"I've checked everything, Teresa, she can't say we're not allowed to be together, and you know it as well"

"I know! – she stood again, panicking again, walking again, one hand on her hip, the other at the forehead – but you know Hightower, and she had never been too impressed by me!"

Noticing the sudden change in her behavior, from nervous to mad, he smiled a bit, just to immediately recompose himself as he noticed that his wife was sending him a look that said clearly that she had noticed his amusement, and that he wasn't allowed to be amused in the first place.

"Oh, the person I was looking for! – Hightower entered in her office while Lisbon was still on her feet, eyeing Patrick a bit mad, smiling one of those "I don't like what you did" smile, looking at Jane like her subordinate – Mr. Jane, I'd need a word with Special agent Lisbon, alone. If you don't mind…"

As Hightower ordered her husband around, all the tensions vanished from her body, and Teresa knew exactly what she had to do, and what she had to say, the hell with consequences; Hightower wanted the war? She was going to give her that, and even more, she was tired of having to listen to her boss' complains about her and her unit, when they were the best unit of the whole CBI!

"Yes, actually, he minds." Hands on her hips, Teresa looked at Hightower, with a firm and proud voice, who sent Jane's knees on jelly, forcing those inappropriate thoughts to reappear; amused and with an idiotic grin printed on his face, a bit stunned by his wife's declaration of war, stunned, he make himself comfortable on the sofa, waiting for the outburst that was going to come – from which side, he was no longer certain.

"Fine – Hightower went to seat at desk, and didn't even bother to look at them, focused on the paperwork she was processing while talking with the duo, not caring too much about the fact that Lisbon was still on her feet, hands on her hips – Agent Lisbon, the Governor isn't impressed in the way the red John situation has been dealt with."

"If I can interrupt – Jane said looking from Lisbon to Hightower, who still wasn't acknowledging their presence, lifting his hand like a kid at school, trying to lower the tension a bit with his usual half-sarcastic (very sarcastic, not very half) - I'd like to remember you that we did catch him, and, mostly, I haven't been the one who killed him. I'd say it's a pretty good result"

"NCIS did catch him – Hightower closed the files, and looked finally at Lisbon, hands crossed over her chest – Now, I don't have to remember you how fragile your position already was, right?"

"Let me get this straight – Lisbon looked at her boss, almost laughing, so crazy the situation was – if Jane doesn't behave, I lose my job, and, if he does, I risk it as well?"

"Lisbon, you know what I think. I have a vision of what the CBI should be. Jane is part of the plan to make us the biggest Investigation Unit of California. He isn't expendable. You are."

"If you fire her I'll give my immediate resignations!" he said in one breath, without thinking too much about it; he tried to stand to make his point more clear, but Lisbon turned to look at him, fire in her eyes, and he gave up. Hell, she was really making things hard for him, when she behaved that way she was as hot as hell… how the hell was he supposed to push away all those inappropriate thoughts when she made her best to multiply them?

"You want to send me away, fine. If you think this is the only job I can take, you're wrong. I'm a hell of a cop, and all the districts in California and behind would love to have me on their side; hell, last year the FBI asked me join them, and the offer still stands, so it's no big deal. You think the only reason we solve case is Jane? Well, I'd suggest to give a look at our files, you know, the ones before he joined us. My unit was the one who closed more cases already back then – she crossed her arms, grinning a little – no, wait, let me clarify this; we didn't close cases. We SOLVED cases."

"Yes, but, you'll admit that, after I joined your unit, the number of cases you solved just…"

"Jane, shut up! – She shout at him, facing him, before to turn to face Hightower again, talking, this time, with a normal tone of voice and quite calmly – you want me out, Ok, but I want to see what my Unit will react to this- she paused, grinning, taking a seat in front of her boss- Or Jane, for what it matters. I'll never let you see the end of this, you know that, right? And if you really think that you could find someone else to handle him… well, I don't doubt that there could be someone at the CBI who could, effectively, handle the situation better than I do, but, what will happen when said person will have to bring him out of jail? Or when this person will have to deal with his unconventional methods? I think we both know that the only reason Jane solves cases is because he does have unconventional methods. Let's face the truth; the day he'll have to put them aside, he'll become useless."

"Are you two threatening me?" She asked serious, looking into Teresa's green eyes.

"Yes" he answered, while Teresa did the same, but with a very different answer.

"No, I'm not threatening you. I'm just standing for my team, for Jane, and for me as well, I'm doing what I should have done for Rigsby and van Pelt, what I should have done the day you told me you were ready to fire me, the day you suspended me., that – Teresa said standing again and looking into her boss' eyes – is what I'm doing"

"Rigsby and Van Pelt's story was…"

"Oh, please, like we don't know that every rule has an exception! – She stormed, facing her, as determinate as never before, pointing a finger at her – they had never done anything wrong at work, they had never compromised a case, they had never behave unprofessionally; they started to behave unprofessionally, to compromise cases after you asked them chose between love and work, when you forced them, two people who had been lucky enough to find what many people never do in lifetime, to break up! You compromised my unit, and I've been so scared of you that I allowed you to, but I'm done, ok?" Throwing a piece of paper she had took from her jacket pocket on Hightower's desk, she stormed out; she wasn't even at the door that her boss, given a quick glance at said paper, called after her, forcing Lisbon to turn, while Jane was still speechless on the sofa, taken aback by his wife's behavior.

"Agent Lisbon, Teresa, you are telling me you're ready to resign because…"

"Because you don't appreciate my work, and you don't respect nor me nor my team, that's why"

"What? She wants to give her resignations? – Patrick stood and reached Hightower, taking the piece of paper from her hands and studying it, then turning to look at Lisbon - We never talked about giving your resignations! I'm the one who's supposed to resign in the first place!" he turned to face Hightower again, and gave her HIS resignations as well, turning to face then Teresa – see, they are already written!"

"No, you'll not give her this satisfaction! – she said serious and cold while taking his resignations from Hightower's desk and making them in pieces- I want to know that she had to deal with you as I had for years!"

Oh, Lord, she really hated him… she was making things worse by the seconds; now he not only had inappropriate thoughts, now he felt the psychical need to jump on her right there…

"I don't want either you resignations, I'd just like to…"

"How did he behave in the last, let's say, 8 months?" Teresa suddenly asked, calm and serious, crossing her arms over her chest, facing Hightower that seemed to say "Don't you dare to lie"

"I'm well aware that in the last months the amount of paperwork requested by Mr. Jane's usual behavior has reached the quota of almost zero, if it's what you're asking me. The last complains I received was from the man who you discovered was the killer…" Hightower was looking at them suspiciously, trying to understand what Lisbon's point was.

"And what do you tell me about the cases, or, his professional behavior?"

"Mr. Jane behaved in an impeccable way and the amount of cases he helped your unit to solve was as high as always."

"Do you have any complains about him?"

"No"

"Do you have any complains about me, Red John case apart."

"No, and considering that he hasn't been killed by Jane as we already expected to, and that you even were able to close few cold cases we weren't aware of weren't connected with him in the first place, I'd say you did a pretty good job, after all."

"And what if I told you that in the last 8 months, the same amount of time Jane has learned to behave, we have been dating for two and married for 6? – Listening to that, Hightower almost laughed, but, when Lisbon took from her neck the thin gold chain where her engagement and wedding rings were, throwing them in her face, Hightower went silent and went serious again – Although I've kept and I will always keep my surname, I've been Mrs. Jane for the last 6 months, and the only thing that changed was that he has finally learned to behave as a normal human again"

"It's true, we're married. I'm living at her place right now. Oh, and we're trying to have a baby and…" Again, he was using his half-serious tone, in the futile attempt of lowering the tension and making things easy for his wife.

"Jane" she silenced him with a word,_ his surname_, and a look.

"If I lose you, I lose Jane as well, and probably your whole team…. – Hightower suddenly found herself focused on her hand sand the wood of her desk as she reflected on the situation – and, as I said, he isn't expandable… like your whole unit. Teresa – she said waking up and going in front of a shocked Mrs. Lisbon-Jane, offering her right to shake, a smile of pride printed on her usually serious face – I've told you many times, and I'll say it again. I like you, but, I have to admit, right now I like you even more, because you showed me how you can stand up for your people. Although I'd prefer to be informed about such things as weddings and pregnancies first thing for the time being, I don't see why I should complain. Besides, from now on, you and your team, and I said – she remarked, smiling like a vixen – you and your _whole_ team, can do what you want in your free time. Until it doesn't interfere with work, it's obvious."

"Boss, I'm touched, I'm glad you understood my point. I promise that you'll not regret your decision" Teresa said shaking her boss' hand before to leave, followed by a still speechless, for once, Jane, who was doing his best to contain himself in the building.

"Lisbon, Jane, one last thing – she said as they stopped by the door as Lisbon had done just minutes before, to turn to look at their boss – congratulations at the both of you, and, when you'll need to be put on desk duty or on maternity leave…"

"I'm considering taking paternity leave as well- he said stopping Hightower, letting her go on after his sudden need to talk – sorry, you can proceed"

"Well, when you'll need to be put on desk duty, Lisbon, or you and your… _husband… _will need to take paternity and or maternity leave, feel free to inform me, ok?"

"Thanks boss and, I swear you'll not regret this. – Lisbon turned inside again, and gave a look at her boss, a bit uneasy, like she was struggling to find the words or was scared to say them- for what concerns that letter I gave you…"

"What letter?" Hightower asked as the aforementioned piece of paper ended in the bin, in millions of tiny pieces.


	12. A Christmas to remember

From One-shot,. the story has been promoted to multi-chapter, although I'm not quite sure how many more you'll have; Many of you asked for a sequel, and so, I thought about giving a bit more of space to Annie and the marvelous Jisbon romace we're still waiting to see in "reality"...

As always, thanks to everyone who, with reviews, or putting me and the story on alert or on fav, gave me resons to go on with this story.

And, please, keep in mind: I still don't ow the mentalist...

* * *

"Huston, we have a problem" Having Mick storming into their home at morning was bad, and showed how little the young man knew of his sister, but Mick storming into their kitchen, uninvited, at half past seven in their free day (because, obviously, every time he needed something, it was in their free day), making himself at home serving himself tea and biscuits, without consider that, maybe, they could have been in some state of undress (like they were, Teresa in Patrick's shirt and Patrick with just his pajama pants) was the demonstration that, somehow, she had failed as a sister, and the boy was seriously damaged, since he didn't even got close to know the meaning of the world "polite". The only good thing that came out of this "visits" was that they made them aware why Annie used to behave like she always did, with her spurs of sincerity, without considering what could be polite or not – she had taken after her daddy.

"Good morning Mick, I'm glad you asked how I feel today, I'm quite good, thank you, and Patrick is fine as well, even if he has a little backache. What about you." Patrick almost spitted his morning tea, as he tried his best to not laugh; Teresa, who had used the most sarcastic tone he had ever heard her use in many years spent at her "side", was looking at her brother with an icy expression, while Mick was, open mouth, a biscuit dipped into the hot liquid close to his mouth but unable to any further, like he had just realized what he had done.

"Uh… Well… you know… I was around and…" he babbled, letting the biscuit fall into the cup of tea, messaging the back of his head like he did when he was a kid and did something he wasn't supposed to.

"Mick, what the hell have you done" it wasn't even a question, but a matter-of-fact statement; having raised a father, three boys and now her husband, Teresa knew that the tone Mick was using with her could mean just three things: 1)he had done something he wasn't supposed to and now he needed her help; 2)he was going to do something he wasn't supposed to and needed her help in case things went wrong; 3)he needed her help to do something he wasn't supposed to.

"It's…uh… Annie."

"How many times do I have to repeat you all that you can't promise a child to buy them a pony for Christmas?" Another question that sounded as a matter of fact statement, another time Teresa let herself sink into her chair, arms crossed over her chest, exhausted by the numerous times she had to repeat the same things, over and over, to the two "children"

"I'm not an idiot. I know children don't let it go until you are so tired of hearing them complaining and finally maintain your promise. No, sis, you see, my problem, truth to be told, it's actually – he paused, crossing his arms over his chest for dramatic effect – your problem."

"Patrick, what the hell have you done? - for the third time in few minutes, Teresa found herself making a matter of fact statement that sounded like a question, but wasn't one; now she suddenly remembered why she had issues about dating Patrick Jane at the time they weren't already dating… - I know you like to woo females of all ages, but, since we see Annie almost every day and she is actually related to us, could you please avoid wooing her too much? Can't you, I don't know, turn your charm off for a while, when you re with her?"

"She dictated me Santa's letter yesterday evening. I thought it was better waiting 'till morning before to drop the bomb on you two – as Mick stated to eat again, Teresa just turned to look at Patrick, a look that said everything, then, with a look, forced her brother to go on – she wants a cousin, and, since Christmas is due in a couple of weeks, I thought it was my duty to send you to work…"

"We're working on it, but, you know, it's less than a couple of weeks that we have thrown the protections in the garbage, so, I'm not sure…"

"Patrick!" as her cheeks turned into a strong shade of red, Teresa left her seat without talking, strengthening the hold around the shirt, like to better cover herself, and, while Mick and Jane were close to laugh, but were already grinning, she exiled herself in their bedroom, wondering if she could resist Jane long enough to ground him on the couch.

"That, my friend – Jane proclaimed solemnly as they cheered with the cups of tea - is the reason I like you so much, because, like me, you like to embarrass her."

"Ehy, I'm her blood, and her favorite brother; she'll always forgive me. What's your excuse?"

"Do you know when people say that make-up sex is simply great? Well, I've never believed that, but- Patrick grinned – it's true. You know, the only thing I'll regret when Tessie will get pregnant will be the fact that we'll have to eventually give up sex for a while…"

"Ok you know what? As much as I love embarrassing Tess, I'm not sure I want to go any further in this conversation, so… - Leaving his seat, the younger Lisbon took another sip of the still hot liquid, and send a questioned look to his brother in law, while, at the same time, examining the content of his cup – You know, I thought you had better taste in tea…"

"Tess is giving up caffeine, because she could get pregnant any moment, so, since tea contains excitants as well, I decided to give up my usual tea as well, and taking this… thing."

"So, are you two serious?"

Patrick glared at his brother in law's address, almost laughing "I married your sister, Mick, I'm pretty sure that it can be defined as "serious", don't you agree?"

"Yeah, it's just that, you know, it's still weird… besides, Annie always makes those uncomfortable questions about the two of you, and, well, I'm not sure. How the hell am I supposed to answer to a kid who tells me she wants her aunt and uncle to produce an heir?"

"You tell her they are working on it and that – he paused, looking with a light in his eyes at the second Lisbon he knew so well – Uncle Patrick wrote to Santa asking the same thing, and can't wait to see if his wish will come true"

At Christmas Eve, while getting ready for Mick and Claire's party, Patrick realized he was getting worried, and for more than one reason. First, Teresa was still mad with him for the awful conversation that had shared a couple of weeks before with Mick; apparently, his wife didn't enjoy that her brother (and, therefore, her whole family) knew of the whereabouts of her sex-life. Second, Teresa was so pissed off with him that she was avoiding him, her husband, her Patrick, if not for work; he realized they had a problem when, few days earlier, when he tried to grab her in bed, she had given him her back, saying that she had an headache, and he knew that, when she said she had an headache, it meant that she simply didn't want to share her bed with him at the moment. Which brought problem number three: A whole month and she wasn't pregnant? His first wife was a bit younger than Teresa, but, as soon as they tried, she got pregnant, and with that he meant _days. _Not that he could say that to Teresa, he liked their bed and, as much as he loved couches, he hated being grounded on them by his wife.

"Ehy, what are you thinking about?" he wasn't used to being surprised or taken off guard, but he had been so lost in his thoughts and worries that he hadn't noticed Teresa coming back into their room, nor that she had approached him, and hugged him from behind; he smiled at her, turning a bit so that he could kiss her hair, and, while doing so, he decided he wanted to hug his wife properly, and, taken her for her arms, moved her so they were facing each other.

Teresa was smiling at him with that happy expression; she was beautiful, with the knee long, soft and cloudy red skirt and a pearl grey shirt (he had found out that he loved having her around in skirts, and he was sure his wife was well aware that both the articles of clothes she had chosen were his favorite ones in her whole wardrobe) she was radiant, like the day they got married, even more, if possible, and, blue eyes lost into green ones, he realized it had been a while since he had seen her that way… ok, he was a mentalist, and he was good at reading people, but, after all, hadn't he always been adamant about the fact that reading Teresa wasn't so easy? Maybe he had just seen things that weren't there, overreacting a bit, over thinking, as always…

Smiling at her, he decided that, if there was one thing he had learned from the Lisbon's family, was that acting in the spur of the moment was, mostly, a good thing; he took her in his arms, putting them around her hips, and lifted Teresa that much he needed to be comfortable in kissing her; few instants later, as they were kissing as it was the end of the world, her hands ended in his blonde curls, playing with them, while Patrick's one found their "rest" under the soft fabric of her shirt, his thumbs busy drawing circles on her back; if it wasn't getting hot enough, the fact that she suddenly started smiling in their kiss, made things harder for him…

"God, Teresa, you really hate me…" he said once they parted; she was still smiling radiant, extremely happy, as he rested his forehead against hers.

"I have a gift for you" she said him, unable to contain her excitement any longer; yes, he had definitely seen things that weren't there.

"Eh… I know? I have one for you as well…" he wasn't that dumb, he was just playing the role, besides… ok, he didn't really knew what her point was. He knew she had brought him a gift, so did he, so, what was the point, the real point?

"No, silly, I don't mean that! – She put her arms around his neck, and looked straight into his eyes, happy and smiling and radiant and beautiful – kiss me like you just did, and then you'll find out what I have in store for you…"

With a malicious grin, he looked at her, just lifting his eyebrows a bit; he really wasn't going to complain, if his wife was going to seduce him, who was him to stop her?

"Ok" they smiled at each other, and, as soon they did, they got closer again, kissing each other again; taken by the moment, Patrick didn't even realized that he had moved his hands around her face and was currently playing with her hair.

"I want to be kissed as you did before, Patrick, same way" she managed to say between kisses, smiling and laughing; Patrick lifted his eyebrows again, and, simply, moved his hands where she wanted them to be, trying to understand what she wanted. As he did so, she smiled in the kiss, and, suddenly, he felt salty moisture that he recognized as her tears, tears that, since she was still smiling happy, had to be tears of joy. He was going to stop to ask her what was going on, but she had been quicker than him, and had grabbed his hands, moving them from her back to her stomach, lifting a bit the shirt so that he could clearly see her skin, letting them stay there for a while.

He smiled as he had never smiled before, the same smile she still had on her, knowing what she meant. With tears of joy, without letting it go of his hands, Teresa looked into her husband's eyes. "I know it's not already midnight, but… - she stopped. She knew he had understood but she still wanted to be the one to say the word, because it was the only way to make this tangible and real – happy Christmas, daddy"

He took her in his arms, lifting her in the air, and kissed her, the quick pecks she loved so much.

"How… when… why… I mean… how it is…"

"I was late, and I've never been late my whole life, so I immediately took an appointment with my doctor, and she run a blood test, and two days ago she confirmed it, and I'm so sorry, I know I haven't been that much of saint in the last couples of days, but I really wanted to be sure before to tell you, and then I was sure, but I wanted to wait for Christmas, and…"

He cut her off, kissing her abruptly, quickly, a grin on his face; she knew he wasn't the kind of man who went around saying that his woman was pregnant and he had gotten lucky, but, still, there were times in which she was pretty sure Patrick Jane was still a caveman, and she was almost 100% positive that this one was the case; she could definitely picture him while talking his bed stories to his "mates", because he was definitely the kind of man who took pride in bringing a child to life.

"Are you happy?" she asked him suddenly, her voice low, her head on his shoulder; she knew they were supposed to be happy, but there was the big elephant in the room, the ghost of his first marriage, how he had suffered when he had lost his daughter, and…

"Will you allow me to tell our child of his older sister?" there was a hint of sadness in his voice as he spoke with her same tone, looking into Teresa's green eyes, moving a lock of hair from said eyes, to get lost in them better. He smiled of a sad smile; after all, he knew her well, he knew her well enough to understand where her thoughts were directed to…

"Oh, Patrick…- she buried her head in his chest, immediately regretting it; in that instant, she thought that hormones were already making a number on her, so much she cried, so many tears ended on his previously immaculate blue shirt…- will you be mad… will you mind… do you think that…"

"No- he said holding her firmly like for dear life – no, I just want to have our baby, boy or girl, it doesn't matter, just… promise me that you'll allow me to say something about my firstborn when the baby will be old enough to understand…" they stayed there, hugging each other in the semi-darkness of the room,, until they had to part to leave, and even when they did, Patrick kissed quickly her and then her abdomen; they didn't say a word, there was no need: the way they looked at each other, their kisses, their holding hands were saying enough.

"Are you sad, Aunt Tessie?" Claire, Teresa and Annie was in the kitchen, busy preparing milk and biscuits for Santa Claus, when the kid had decided to acknowledging her need of truth, after she had seen her aunt's red eyes and her sniffing eyes. Besides, even Annie knew that Aunt Tessie always talked (especially if it was something concerning Uncle Patrick), and her Aunt had been silent the whole time they had been together. Something was wrong, and, as the most beautiful girl of the world, it was up to her (and to Tony, the most beautiful 10 months old of the planet) to make it better…

"Tess, are you all right? It is because of _that case_?" Claire got close to Teresa, who had decided to sink into the closest chair, collapsing into tears and sigs, like a broken mess, the broken mess she had never been. God, until she hadn't admitted out loud the existence of the pregnancy, she hadn't felt the symptoms; now, a world, and her hormones did everything they weren't supposed to do (to her)?

"Oh my, Tess, what happened? What did Patrick do? Did you argue? you know you can talk with me and…" As soon as her sister in law started to cry, Claire was already at her side; it wasn't simply because they liked each other and felt a genuine feel, it was the fact that Claire knew Teresa. And she had never seen Teresa in such a state, if not… twice, and both for Patrick's fault (the first one when he had confessed her his plan to get rid of Red John, the second time when he had dated Kristina what the hell was her surname, I don't give a damn about it).

"Patrick's perfect, I don't deserve him. I've never deserved him…" Claire was really running out of ideas, she really didn't know what to do, because, the more time passed, the more Teresa cried, and now she was eating all the chocolate chips biscuits (making Annie worried, because she was the one who was supposed to eat them in the morning, since "Santa" wanted it that way) and she wasn't sure if she was supposed to make Patrick aware of this situation, because, even if Teresa denied it, it really looked like he had done something to the poor woman…

"Oh God, he didn't hypnotize you, did he?" Claire got paler and paler, yes, Patrick was _almost _decent, but he was a bit obsessed with hypnosis and…

"When you had Tony in your belly, you always eat chocolate chips biscuits while crying" Annie had decided to have another outburst of truth, while stealing a biscuit for herself (she really didn't see the point, since, 1) the adults were already eating them, and 2)she knew Santa didn't exist and they were doing this play only for Tony, so, there was no reason to let those delicious biscuits alone), an outburst that had caused her Aunt to stop eating, the biscuit half in her mouth, half still in her hand.

"Oh God… are you pregnant? – Claire asked with eyes wide open, a bit shocked by her daughter's revelation, that had caused Teresa to simply nod – YOU ARE PREGNAT!" Claire screamed, jumping on her feet, running into the other room, exited; she hugged Patrick with tears in her eyes, she even gave him a lousy kiss on the forehead, leaving him shocked, then hugged her husband and run back into the kitchen, hugging again Tess, who had started to cry again, followed by the Patrick and Mick, who had Tony in his arms; of course, Patrick, who was grinning like the Cheshire cat (or, according to others, like an idiot) knew the meaning of her actions (although, he had to admit, it seemed she was the one pregnant, and not his wife) but, with acting that way without saying an actual word… well, she really seemed a maniac in that moment.

"What did you do to my sister?" Mick's statement was directed at Jane, and had been made with such force and decision that Patrick felt the need to protect his nose from the last violent act of someone directed to his persona; the boy was definitely Lisbon's brother, and definitely had been raised by her.

"Aunt Tessie and Uncle Patrick are going to have a baby" Annie said calmly while drinking her milk.

"What? Are you pregnant? – Mick asked, without knowing he was mimicking the same actions made by his wife – You are pregnant! Pat, you are a lucky bastard!" Of course, Claire had just hugged Tess, and not given packs and hit her on the shoulders…

"Annie, sweetheart, you don't seem surprised…" Patrick suddenly said to the girl, once he had been able to escape her father's hold, talking with that tone he had just for this almost 6 years old who had stolen his heart in the blink of an eye.

"You promised me a cousin for Christmas, and you always maintain your promises, Uncle Patrick - she said between a taste of milk and one of her biscuits, the same matter of fact of her dad and her aunt – Daddy, why Uncle Patrick maintains always his promises, and you haven't given me the pony you promised me yet?"


	13. 9 months

From One-shot,. the story has been promoted to multi-chapter, although I'm not quite sure how many more you'll have; Many of you asked for a sequel, and so, I thought about giving a bit more of space to Annie and the marvelous Jisbon romace we're still waiting to see in "reality"...

As always, thanks to everyone who, with reviews, or putting me and the story on alert or on fav, gave me resons to go on with this story.

And, please, keep in mind: I still don't ow the mentalist...

* * *

"Mick, what's the deal?" after the "revelation" of Teresa's pregnancy, Mick and Patrick had migrated back in the living room, and the younger Lisbon had started to behave a bit… weirdly; Patrick guessed that, even if Mick enjoyed a bit (even too much) embarrassing Teresa with male jokes (sex talk), he was, in truth, a bit uneasy. Mick didn't seem to want to talk about it too much, and kept sending weird glances at his brother in law, looking at him while he thought Patrick wasn't looking, to look into the opposite direction when Patrick turned to look at him.

"Mick, what's the deal? - Patrick asked again at Mick, with an amused grin in his face, until he didn't notice how sad the man was, and understood, or so he thought, what he meant – Oh, sorry, I thought… it was stupid, nothing."

"I'm sorry, Patrick, really, I know I should have not thought about it in the first place." Mick was suddenly very focused on his feet and his hands. Everything was good, but not Patrick.

"It's ok, really. I mean, I've never tried to hide the fact that I have a past, and – Patrick took a big breath and tuned to look at Mick again, almost forcing with the strength of his look to convince his brother in law to look at him again- I've already been through this, yes, but… at the same time, I haven't. When my first wife was pregnant, I was too busy, too taken by my life, by myself. I didn't enjoy the pregnancy as I should have, and… and it's not new, but it is at the same time. It's weird, I'm not sure if... –he looked at Mick, almost laughing, happy – do you realize what I mean?"

Mick didn't answered, not with his voice at least, smiling a bit, he went to the next room, emerging with a book that he gave to a stunning Patrick "Enjoy yourself, and, you screw this, you're as good as dead, Jane"

_Month one- from a guide to pregnancy for fathers to be_

**_During pregnancy week 1 and pregnancy week 2, you may not even be certain that you are pregnant yet. Many women experience few if any symptoms at all. _**

Checked, he mentally told himself as, from his couch, Patrick was reading Mick's gift, hidden by the cover of one of Cho's novels; Christmas time was almost over, and everyone was still gathered at the office for the usual work, although his Teresa seemed a bit tense; she was already worried, and a lot, for the baby. And he knew she was excited. Teresa has spent the whole day biting her lips every time she saw their co-workers, trying to suppress the wish to tell them the news. Until, while she was in the middle of the bullpen, on the way for her office, she stood, the decaf in hand, and turned to look at her team, before to come back into her office running; as promised, Hightower had known as soon as they got the news, but with the team, it was a whole other story; they both knew (Patrick first hand, Teresa because of the books she had already red in the previous days) that during the first trimester everything could happen, so they had decided to wait at least until the fourth month to speak of the baby with their colleagues/friends (Besides, Patrick was 100% positive that, had Teresa announced a pregnancy, Rigsby would be pushed by his girlfriend Van Pelt into doing something about it as well, and the man was as scare of children and pregnant women as of hell itself). Anyway, to book was right: until now, all the symptoms Teresa had showed were just a product of her mind, and she didn't even show them until she had admitted the pregnancy out loud…

**_Your partner will not see dramatic changes during the first month after conception, except that she will tend to crave more rest; some women also may begin to feel a little nauseous, and her breasts may become more tender or may tingle somewhat. Near the end of the first month, many women begin to experience more pronounced nausea, especially in the early morning or evening hours. Also, about this time, most pregnant women will discover a little enlargement of the breasts, with added tenderness._**

"Do you think that Lisbon went to, you know, a surgeon? - Come forth week, Patrick heard Van Pelt and Rigsby gossiping in the kitchenette, grinning about what it was about, and how Rigsby had misunderstood the whole topic.- her breasts got a lot bigger and…"

"Rigsby, you're a pervert - the redhead said while leaving, mad with her boyfriend, while, back on his beloved couch, Patrick was looking at Elvis, grinning, enjoying the irony of the situation… - and an idiot." She completed her sentence as she saw her boss running for the third time of the day in the bathroom, smiling of a knowing smile to Jane.

"The damn Chinese was out of date" he told her, the same smile, knowing that, at least someone had spotted them…

_Month two_

**_You and your partner will notice that she will gain a little weight around her hips; her general tiredness will increase as the first major changes start happening inside her. This is the time when the umbilical cord is being formed, which is pretty demanding on her body. _**

**_By the end of the second month, the levels of progesterone and estrogen are increasing dramatically, which will generally lead to some pretty serious mood swings that start now and continue through her pregnancy. _**

**_You will also likely note the beginning of your partner craving some foods and getting sick with the thought of others. _**

"Teresa, I ordered Chinese, you ok with that?" Patrick was in the kitchen, the takeout menus in one hand, his cell in the other, and was yelling at Teresa to decided to join him; that afternoon, as soon as work was done, she had closed herself in their room (banning him)claiming that he destroyed her life on purpose.

"I hate Chinese!" she yelled back, but, differently from Patrick's tone, she was, indeed, mad. Taking a deep breath, he decided to say a prayer to thank God for the existence of globalization and greenhouses, since they provided him 12 months each year with her favorite fruit; the cook of The Kitchen had raised his eyebrows, but, a couple of words and a free session of hypnosis to free him from his nicotine addiction, had convinced the man to prepare the strawberries with cream, chocolate and shortbread his wife loved so much.

"Tess, what about strawberries?" he was at the door, the tray in one hand, smiling, and he couldn't help but find her adorable as she opened the door just enough to see if he was, indeed, telling the truth.

"I'm so sorry! I should have not yelled at you! I'm sorry I told you you're an idiot at work! I'll never do it again!" Forgotten both strawberries and Chinese, Teresa hugged him with a force he wasn't aware she had, taking her husband by surprise with the sudden mood swing. Teresa was no longer mad at him, and that was good, but he wasn't sure if her constant craving for strawberries (which had worsened with pregnancy) was any good for his financial… or if her mascara on his brand new and (once) immaculate white shirt was either…

_Month 3_

**_Your partner will feel totally zapped during this third month-her body is in overdrive as the baby begins to develop; while her sex drive will likely be good, she may just be too tired to enjoy it. _**

Ok, the sex was good, to be honest, describing the sex with pregnant Teresa as good wasn't even doing justice; that wasn't the problem: the problem was that the damn book was wrong! Tired…Teresa was never tried, and now, instead of food, craved for _him_, in every possible way; she constantly checked on him (that wasn't new, only, she used to do that to check on him to avoid paperwork and legal issues…) with that puppy voice, and when he was around, he had to hide, because she constantly tried to get rid of their clothes (yes, even at work, and yes, even on his beloved couch, under the eyes of the poor Elvis)…

"So, you and Lisbon are trying to have a baby or what?" Rigsby had asked him one day, after he had left Lisbon's office, shirt and vest wrinkled and out of breath after a heavy make-out session that had been dangerously close to becoming something else. If the man thought he was funny…

_Month 4_

**_This is typically the month when the whole world will begin to see the physical changes, but remember that every woman is different; how and when the pregnancy shows will depend on a number of factors. _**

**_She will likely have a brief respite from the overwhelming fatigue of the first three months. Usually during the fourth month, she'll begin to feel a little more "in the zone" in terms of the pregnancy; however, there may be some new concerns like aching joints or skin problems. These are the result of the rapidly increasing levels of hormones in her system._**

Closed in her office with Patrick, Teresa lifted a bit the fabric of her red shirt, and looked at her abdomen, smiling and bright, skimming over her skin; her husband, from the seat in front of her, looked dreamily at the scene, with something in his eyes that could only be described as adoration.

"Teresa, you don't have to" he almost whispers, unsure if he preferred to look at her belly or in Teresa's eyes; yeah, he definitely wanted to have a baby with her eyes.

"No, it's time to take full-time desk duty, besides, soon I'll have to wear maternity clothes, and I'll not be able to hide it – she made a brief pause, looking into Patrick's blue eyes – Patrick, let's do it, ok?" smiling, she left her seat, and, once in front of him, offered her husband a hand; together, they walked out of the office, standing in the middle of the bullpen like she had already done many times, when she was dying to tell them of the baby.

"Excuse me people, do you mind paying attention for a sec?" he lifted his voice of a bit, seeming, for an instant, at loss of word; yes, that was the Patrick Teresa loved with all her heart, the man who knew everything but was oblivious to his own feelings (and of the people too close to him), the man who always knew what to say, but was at loss of her words when it come to him and to his wife, the man who always talked too much but, in moments like that, was embarrassed…

"Cho – she seriously said, like she was talking about an investigation – from now on, for the next 9 to 12 months, you'll be field leader. I'll be available for the next 4 months, and then I'll be in maternity leave for a while"

"No! - Rigsby said as he went to Cho and gave him, again, few bills, hands on his hips, mad and definitely not happy. – now, you have to tell me how the hell you knew that?"

"Boss, Jane, I'm so happy for you! – Grace hugged both of them, than, standing in front of the couple, clapped her hands, ecstatic – may I organize a baby shower? Please, as soon as you'll know the sex, you'll allow me to, right? Please?"

"Well, I'm not sure, we didn't want to know the sex of the baby and…"

"We didn't? – He said shocked looking at his wife who was lifting her eyebrows at him – oh, right, yes, we didn't want to know the sex. No, I correct myself; we don't want to know the sex"

"Green then – Grace squealed – Green is a universal color that will do fine for both a girl and a boy!"

"Wow – Teresa said not as enthusiastic as Grace, already fearing the baby shower, holding firmly Patrick's hand like he could save her from an invasion of females who just wanted to touch her belly – may I ask how Cho knew I was pregnant?"

"Yes, I want to know! C'mon Cho- Rigsby said madder and madder – tell me how you knew it!"

"Jane hid his guide for fathers to be in the cover of one of my books. I went to take it back while he was out doing one of his numbers, and, instead of a Castle novel, I found an accurate description of sex life during the pregnancy"

With this discover, Teresa quickly let it go of Patrick's hand, and, scarlet in face, run back into her office, wishing to not leave the room ever again…

_Month 5_

**_Most pregnant moms think the fifth month is the best of all. A lot of the hard work her body has been doing takes a break. The baby will be moving around a little by this stage. At the right moments, you'll be able to feel the baby moving with a well placed hand on her abdomen. _**

"How did the scan go?" Claire asked while they were waiting for dinner to get ready at her brother and sister in law.

Teresa was showing a bit more, but she didn't need prenatal clothes yet; the only giveaway – which they didn't need, since they were well aware of her pregnancy- was that she spent the whole time looking at her belly and massaging it, with Patrick at her side, in his usual day-dream state; at this state, defining his looks as of adoration wasn't even enough, he was really worshipping Teresa and the ground she walked on…

"Patrick made a scene at the doctor.- she laughed, satisfied, like she was telling the funniest story of the world, while at the moment, all she wanted to do was disappear – I thought he was going to kill the poor man"

"He called her old." He didn't changed position, nor tone: his head on his elbows, his elbows on the table, he was so calm and quiet, she almost didn't believe that he was the same man who, the previous day, had almost dragged her of the hospital…

"He didn't say I'm old, Patrick. He just meant that the ideal age for getting pregnant for the first time has already passed, that's all."

"Do you know if it's a boy or a girl?" Annie asked while putting her book aside for a moment, and looking into her uncle's eyes; she had turned 6 a couple of months before, and was showing everybody how Patrick had been right about her- she was, indeed, a little genius.

"Why honey, you prefer something in particular?" Teresa looked at him with a warning look; she hated when he turned his charm on with Annie, especially when it had to do with promises she wasn't sure they could maintain…like the choosing of a boy or a girl.

"I don't want you to call her Annie if it's a girl or Tony if it's a boy – she looked again at Patrick, serious, while the man had never been so amused in his whole life – I know that the baby will be the new little princess, but I don't want to confuse the baby. Will you premise you'll choose another name, Uncle Patrick? I want to be the only member of the family with this name."

"Oh, sweetheart… - Teresa called her niece at her side, hugging her fiercely, almost killing her so strong she was, with tears in her eyes, and kept kissing her of wet kisses like an old aunt – listen sweetie, why don't help Patrick and me to…" Mild-sentence, Teresa stopped, and, quickly, took, her husband's hand and Annie's one, putting them both on her belly, under the fabric of her shirt.

"Hello, baby cousin! - Annie said smiling, while massaging her aunt's belly. – hurry up because I want to meet you!"

"Yeah, your mum and I can't wait to meet you as well…" With tears of joy, Patrick leaned, and kissed Teresa's stomach, while she put her hands in his blonde curls, crying as well. She wanted her baby boy, because she wanted a boy, to have his father's hair.

_Month 6 _

**_A little more fatigue will set in during this month; you and your partner will see noticeable changes in her breasts. _**

**_She will also generally experience a slight drop in blood pressure during this stage as her body adjusts to the growing baby and the baby's demand for blood_**

It was few weeks that she had to spend all her time on the damn couch, and the movie night with her family wasn't any different; if, before, she was able to do few steps, now she was no longer allowed to, one, because Patrick didn't want, second, because she didn't even the energy to walk in the first place, especially at evening….

"Aunt, I like the names Nathan and Christopher and Lucas and Thomas for a boy, and Isabella and Madison and Julia and Alexis for a girl…" Annie said while she removed the Beauty and the Beast from the DVD reader; it wasn't the first time they had discuss this, but every other time, she had simply told them that she didn't want the baby called after all (claiming she wanted to be the only Lisbon called Annie), but, until now, she had never told them that she actually wanted to name the baby herself.

"Jeez, your daughter found your old baby name book…"

"It's our daughter, Mick – Claire said to her husband, before to turn to look at Annie – Annie, it's their child; they are the ones who are supposed to choose the name. It's not like with your brother, ok?"

"May we use the middle name of the children? - Patrick suddenly asked, jumping from his seat and looking with hope and Claire and Mick, and then turning to look at Teresa, who was a bit in shock, since, sometimes, he seemed the one with the mood swing, and not her – Lucas Edward Jane, Christopher Edward Jane… Alexis Teresa Jane, Julia Teresa Jane…"

"I simply love Julia… and Lucas…" she said smiling, kissing him like they were alone.

"Get a room, you have an audience here!" Mick said leaving the room, after having thrown a cushion at Patrick.

"Uncle Patrick, dad and mum didn't tell me how babies come… is it a fairy like with the teeth?"

"man – Mick repeated from his position- if id didn't hate you enough for the stories you share, I do now…"

_Month 7_

**_During this month as the baby grows more rapidly, your partner will feel some discomfort as her internal organs (lungs, liver, stomach, and intestines) are compressed upward._**

It was almost two o'clock- 2 are – and Teresa was still awake, busy rolling in bed, trying to find a comfortable position.

"Tess, you need to sleep." He said half-asleep; Teresa needed to sleep for her and the bay, and he needed to sleep as well. Damn, he was starting to miss how used he was to insomnia…

"The doctor said I should sleep on my back, but you know I've never felt really comfortable that way!- suddenly, resting on her back, she turned her head a bit to face Patrick, who, on his side, was looking at her, eye a bit open – Patrick, you still love me, right, even if I'm fat?"

_Oh Lord. Wasn't the swing mood supposed to be over by months now_? "You're not fat, Teresa - he tried to reassure her, eyes now totally closed, voice rusty. – You're pregnant. There's a big difference."

"Are you saying that you'd never be in love with me if I were fat?"

"Teresa – he said, suddenly totally awake, kissing her fully on the lips and then going on with the rest of her body – no matter what, I'll always love you."

_Month 8_

**_The Mother will likely experience some lower back pain, and may have more difficulty getting up and down and walking. This stage will also affect her ability to sleep; she will have a few wakeful nights during this stage; this lack of sleep, combined with the hormonal issues, tend to make her a little more grumpy and testy. She may experience some swelling in her hands and feet; she may need a larger sized shoe for a while._**

Apparently, Teresa saw her pregnancy as something he was the only responsible; meaning: she had banned him again; this time, though, while a collection of porcelains flown in the air (because he had to pay in some way, right?) she had decided that the sofa wasn't enough. No, since he was the one who made her fat and hormonal and made her breast heavy and enormous, and her feet bigger than Godzilla's one, he had to sleep outside.

At least, Mick, already gone through two pregnancies, knew how he may feel, and had been nice enough to offer the couch.

"And I should be the one mad, you know? In the last few months she has called me Simon Baker more than once while we were having sex! - for once, Mick didn't seem to mind the sharing story of "sex life", but was quite intrigued, even if he was more curios, as his eyebrows suggested, to know the identity of this guy Tess called while… while at it - an actor."

"At least she didn't call you Keanu Reeves..."

"Claire did…"

"Yeah, and I don't even look like the man!" drinking their beers, the two men cheered, laughing and telling "war stories" about their work lives…

_Month 9_

**_Your partner's breasts will get heavier and may even begin to leak colostrums, which will be the baby's first nourishment after birth. Her organs will further compress and be pushed up against her diaphragm; this may cause an increase in heartburn or shortness of breath. Her kidneys will be working harder, so she'll feel the need to use the bathroom a lot-even more than before. You'll start to see some stretch marks on her abdomen as the skin is stretched. Her legs and back will tend to cramp a lot. Some gentle rubbing and massaging may help relieve the pain _**

"Tess, calm the hell down" they were extremely awake, especially Teresa, in the middle of the night, in their bed; Teresa, in particular, found very interesting the ceiling, and wasn't too aware of the magic her husband's hands were doing on her ankles.

"Less than a week, Patrick, it's less than a week. – she looked at him, sitting and looking at him, who was sitting, Indian style, at the end of the bed – how the hell can you be so calm?"

"Because I already went through it?" he really didn't know it this was what she wanted to hear, this was the reason he didn't know how to make it sound, if like a question, or a statement. This was her territory, after all…

"Do you think I'll be a good mother?"

Laughing, Patrick come back to his place, and looked at her; she was adorable, simply, simply, adorable… "Why aren't you asking me if I'll be a good father?"

"I've seen you with Annie and Tony, and with all the children we have to see for work. Of course you'll be a good father! - She laughed, getting closer to him, feeling better- Patrick, I'm sure she loved having you as her dad. Our kid will, too."

"It's a boy- he stated, out of the blue, his voice a mere whisper as he got lost in Teresa's eyes, extremely serious and with a voice as seductive and soft as never before, like it was of silk – we will have a boy, with blonde curly hair and green eyes, sparkling like emeralds."

"How do you know?" she asked again smiling and happy, almost kissing him, few inches from his lips.

"Because, love, it's what we want. And God knows we deserve it."

"Patrick?"

Even if he was past asleep, the panicked voice of his wife awakened him in less than half second; he run into the bathroom, where the voice come from, and found Teresa, standing against the doorframe, one hand on her belly.

"Patrick, I think I just broke my waters…"


	14. When messedup people create a miracle

From One-shot,. the story has been promoted to multi-chapter, although I'm not quite sure how many more you'll have; Many of you asked for a sequel, and so, I thought about giving a bit more of space to Annie and the marvelous Jisbon romace we're still waiting to see in "reality"...

As always, thanks to everyone who, with reviews, or putting me and the story on alert or on fav, gave me resons to go on with this story.

And, please, keep in mind: I still don't ow the mentalist...

* * *

_"Do you think I'll be a good mother?"_

_Laughing, Patrick come back to his place, and looked at her; she was adorable, simply, simply, adorable… "Why aren't you asking me if I'll be a good father?"_

_"I've seen you with Annie and Tony, and with all the children we have to see for work. Of course you'll be a good father! - She laughed, getting closer to him, feeling better- Patrick, I'm sure she loved having you as her dad. Our kid will, too."_

_"It's a boy- he stated, out of the blue, his voice a mere whisper as he got lost in Teresa's eyes, extremely serious and with a voice as seductive and soft as never before, like it was of silk – we will have a boy, with blonde curly hair and green eyes, sparkling like emeralds."_

_"How do you know?" she asked again smiling and happy, almost kissing him, few inches from his lips._

_"Because, love, it's what we want. And God knows we deserve it."_

_"Patrick, you're a straight atheist"_

_"Or maybe – he said kissing the tip of her nose – Saint Theresa just changed my mind"_

_"I hate the nickname"_

_"Well, considering that I focused my life on vengeance for almost years and that you were able to change my mind, I'd say, love, that it's what you are."_

_"Patrick?" she called few minutes later from the bathroom._

_Even if he was past asleep, the panicked voice of his wife awakened him in less than half second; he run into the bathroom, where the voice come from, and found Teresa, standing against the doorframe, one hand on her belly._

_"Patrick, I think my waters just broke…"_

"Dr. Kensington will join you shortly. He said he is sorry, but he had an emergency in San Francisco, a birthing is taking longer than he thought, but, until then, I'll be at you side." Leaning in her hospital bed, Teresa focused on one thing and one thing only: Patrick's hand, holding firmly her own, and his figure, the man of her life in just a plain shirt, rolled sleeves, no vest, and plain jeans, the one he had used to paint the house few week before, where drops of paint hadn't gone away. When the Kensington's assistant, Abby Kvetch, had come to tell them that their doctor was a bit late, he had turned to look at her, and followed the woman with his eyes around the room, like to try to calm himself down a bit, but, as soon as he felt Teresa's grip becoming stronger and stronger, he turned to look at her again, a small smile, a bit worried, on his face; she didn't like it.

"Why isn't Dr. Kensington here? Patrick, I need my doctor, I'm not going to deliver this baby if he is not here" Teresa's voice was broken by tears and pain, and the raven haired woman was really that close to having a break-down. She hated it, she hated feeling useless, not being in control, and, mostly, she hated how he looked. He seemed so… peaceful and calm! He wasn't supposed to be peaceful and calm, expecting fathers had never been peaceful and calm, why had Patrick to be the first? He was supposed to be unsure and on the verge of a break-down like her, if not worse!

"Teresa, when you went on and on claiming your water just broke, you had just lost a small amount of blood..." he tried to reassure her, massaging her head, with his so calm voice. Did he really think that he was going to calm her? Hell, no!

"I lost blood, Patrick, blood! Do you think it's normal? Well, I don't…"

"Yes, it is- he stopped her with that hideous smile, patting her head like he would a child – it's the first sign of labor. Kensi told us, remember?" Teresa rolled her eyes, while he was grinning, hearing how he had nicknamed their doctor; and he had even been the one who almost chocked his head off, when the poor man had said that she was a bit old for being pregnant for the first time…

"At least soon I'll no longer feel like a character from the Alien movie...- as she abandoned herself in the ocean of pillows Patrick had so diligently procured, she noticed his questioning eyebrows, and the weird looks he was sending her- Alien, Patrick, the movie, don't tell me you never…"

"Of course I did, silly! Teresa, really, how long do you know me? And you still don't understand when I'm joking? – He recomposed himself, the joking expression gone, replaced by one a bit serious – Ok, I may not have seen the movie, but it doesn't mean I don't know anything about it. It's just that I'm not a sci-fi kind of guy"

"It will be last for still a while, right? - she asked suddenly, out of the blue, understanding why he was trying so desperately to talk about the more and the less; Patrick, without letting it go of her hand, took away a bit, so that their arms had to be completely stretched in order of allowing them to hold hands, but, right then, he really thought it was safer that way; after all, he had experienced firsthand that Teresa was a dangerous woman when in a bad mood, gun or no gun – Patrick, how long"

"Best case scenario, since you are in your first pregnancy, 18-24 hours."

"AND THAT'S THE BEST CASE SCENARIO? PATRICK JANE, THAT'S YOUR ENTIRE FAULT! I WANT KENSINGTON HERE AND I WANTED HIM HERE 10 MINUTES AGO! I WANT A C SECTION! I'M NOT GOING TO GO THROUGH THIS FOR 24 HOURS!"

Just when he thought his ears were bleeding and his eardrums gone for good so much she was screaming, he had the brilliant idea of ending the sentence, contemplating the worst case scenario as well. "… Worst case, it can last 72-80 hours" As soon as he felt the noise coming from his wrist, he understood that it hadn't been a good idea; Of course, Teresa was no longer giving sign of being a distant relative of an Irish banshee, but, the way she firmly, too firmly, stroke his hand while looking at him with that expression that usually meant he was in big troubles… he definitely preferred her when she was screaming at him.

"Patrick, listen, now you tell that nice old woman to go call our doctor again- she calmly told him, with a low voice- because I'm going through 80 hours of pain"

"It will not take that long. You've been her for 5 hours now, and your cervix is already dilating, that's why you are experiencing a bit of pain – the female doctor said looking at her, something Teresa hated, because she hated feeling exposed and she hated the idea of someone seeing her intimate parts (there was a reason she had asked for a pitch black room the first times she and her husband had been intimate) – see? It's almost 7 cm, you're almost there. And I bet that contractions are almost regular by now, right?"

"From the way she almost breaks my hand at regular interval, I'd say yes… Ouch! Was that another contraction, honey? Because I think you weren't supposed to have another one yet and… ouch! – he paused, looking jokily at his wife, who was a mask, and not a mask of happiness; that was definitely the look she used to send him when she was mad with him. He was almost expecting the yelling of "Jane!" anytime soon… - Jeez, woman, why always so serious? You think you are the only one who's a mess? Well, I'm a mess as well, only I'm a great performer"

"Patrick – she said calmly and sweetly, looking into his blue eyes – if you want to share the bed with me from now on, you have five seconds to stop to perform and panic or shout definitely up, because if there's something that drives me insane, is seeing you so calm, ok? -. He just silently nodded, as she got back to rest – I'm glad we reached an agreement"

_15 minutes later_

"Patrick, talk to me" she said between tears. Oh, Lord… as much as he loved this woman and wanted at least a couple of children with her, he really didn't know if he could go through this again… hormonal Tess was a real disgrace for his (fragile, almost inexistent, already once gone, vanishing, shadow of) mental health, and he wasn't getting any younger, that was sure. He really didn't know if he could go through this again… few minutes ago she had asked him to shout up, menacing him, as serious as hell, and now she cried because he wanted him to talk with her? Yeah, God really had a weird sense of humor: turning him on when he couldn't do anything about it (not with her, at least); sending Tess in sexual harassment mode (not that he didn't enjoy it, but it was a bit too much, and, as he had already repeated to himself many, many times, he wasn't getting any younger. Ok, he needed time between performances, it wasn't weird, and any man would, it wasn't his fault if Teresa didn't have any patience at all regarding the topic!), and the mood swings (that weren't supposed to last this long, nobody said they would, why the hell was she exception to any rules?)…

"Patrick, I don't want a C Section, not if we can help it, ok? - She said between tears, although smiling, while listening to her baby's heartbeats and looking at the monitors she had been attacked to in the last minutes – Ehy, can you believe that two messed-up people like us created this? That's the heartbeat of our kid…"

"Son, Tess, that's the heartbeat of our son" he looked at her, that serious but extremely expression she had always loved so much about him, while stroking her belly and holding her hand firmly. Yes, now he knew: he definitely wanted to go through this again, not once, but at least, a couple more of time… everything to see her. Lord, the pregnancy had really made a number on her; Teresa had never looked so beautiful; she wasn't a said, like he had told her just the evening before. No, Teresa was a goddess, point.

"You can't know, silly, or did you see or read something you weren't' supposed to? - Even if she was in pain because the contractions were already extremely regulars, she didn't want to let it go if the moment; Patrick was happy, she had waited for years to see him happy, and wanted to enjoy every single instant of that happiness, sharing it with him; that was the reason that, even if she was biting her lips hoping he couldn't notice the pain she was in (yeah, like it was even possible, hiding something to the great mentalist…), she was smiling at her husband. – I know we want this child to be a boy, but, promise me that, in the eventuality we'll have a girl, you'll love her like you would a boy." _Oh lord_, he thought as he passed the hand that had been on her belly on his face, _here come hormones back…_

"Ehy, you know I would – he said smiling, stroking again gently her belly- but I don't see the pint of having this conversation, since we're going to have a boy"

"Oh, yes, because you and your intuitions are never wrong, right?"

"Ehy, I always catch the bad guy at the end, don't I?"

And, again, Teresa started to cry, while looking into his blue eyes, and holding his hand for dear life. This, it didn't have to do with the baby, not completely, at least; paying attention to not move anything, Patrick left his chair, and went to seat on the bed, to be closer to her, while using his thumbs to wipe away the tears that were leaving trails on her face. "I'm so sorry Patrick, if I didn't believe you back then…" she said hugging him, holding to him like her life could depend on this. He didn't understand what she meant, he knew he had hurt her in the past, many, many time, and he had made so many promises that ended being empty, but the important ones, he had always respected them, always maintained them; like she had read his mind, she went on, explaining him what she was talking about.

"When we… when we remained blocked in that crate, you remember? You told that you weren't going to let me down, to abandon me. You told me that, no matter what, you were going to always be there for me, to save me. I'm sorry I thought it was an empty promise…"

Ok, now he really didn't know if he was supposed to cry or to laugh.

"Tess, please, tell me you don't think I kissed you just to prove a point to Annie – he was grinning, that kind of grin he usually reserved to the bad guys when he found out their darkest secrets, and now he was doing it at her, he was doing the mentalist thing she hated so much on her, _his wife!_ Jeez, the man really had a death wish. Or maybe he simply didn't care too much if he was going to be banned by their bedroom until doomsday – Ok, I did it to prove a point, but not to Annie. I wanted to prove something to myself, I wanted – he said looking away, massaging the back of his neck, nervous – I wanted to show myself that it was only physical attraction, that, once we… once given up on instincts, I'd be fine"

"So, to prove yourself that we were just animals in heat, instead of coming to my place an handcuffing me to my bed – he lifted his eyebrows, almost enjoying the mental picture of Teresa, naked, handcuffed to their bed (as soon as she was allowed to be satisfied again, he absolutely need to try this one…), while Abby, although young, become as red as Snowhite's apple - asked me put on a date and waited for more than two months before to sleep with me? Bullshit, mentalist. You were head over heels for me"

"You were crazy of me as well. Do you think I didn't notice your knees turning into jelly every time I touched you?"

"What did they give you?" Abby asked worried, checking on them, eyes wide open, worried that the nurses had done something they weren't supposed to, or not told her about it.

"Oh, no, bickering with me has this effect on her. You'd never said anything like that in a normal relationship, right? But, ehy – he said with that smile that was supposed to send cloud nice women and not heterosexual men- where's the fun in being normal?"

"If I find out that you hypnotized me, you're as good as dead, Jane"

"Teresa, your dilatation is now of 10 cm… you're ready. – Abby looked at her, coming between the couple – even if you are petite and the baby is quite big, you're not going to have a difficult delivery; I looked at the scans, and the child seems well proportioned to you."

"If you'll pass out, you're as good as dead, Patrick, you hear me?"

There was such a need in her voice, that he really couldn't do something like that, even if part of him wanted to; besides, her had done the mistake of not witnessing this once, and he wasn't going to do it all over again. He knew he had failed his first family, but he wasn't going to fail Teresa or this baby; he had promised, that fateful night in the crate, to never let her down, to always save her; that night, he had come to the conclusion he had been given a second shot at life, and had decided that, one day, he was going to act on it. He wasn't going to let that promise become an empty one.

Less than few minutes later, changed in sterile clothes, Patrick was again at Teresa's side; his wife had been transported to the delivery room, and was looking deeply into Patrick's eyes, although she found it quite difficult to see them; his eyes were full of tears, tears of joy nonetheless, but still tears, that made his irises look darker than usual. Crying as well, but in silence, Teresa smiled at him, and kissed rapidly his hand, like he had done with her many times.

"You'll pass out" she whispered to him, almost sure that her husband had done some number on her, one of those hypnosis sessions or whatever he called them.

"You're simply great, Teresa, and I love you, and you know that, right?" he said massaging her hair. He loved them. He really wanted to have a child like her, a mini Teresa, a copy of Annie…

"I want to have other children, Patrick, and I want you to tell them about their sister. I know – she said between tears, as she almost collapsed into her chest – I know that we'll have to wait before to tell them about what happened to your family…"

"You are my family, Teresa, you, this child, and your brothers, Claire and Annie and Tony…"

"I know we'll have to wait until they'll be almost adult to explain them exactly what happened, and I know you're an atheist, but… - she sniffed, while pushing and holding him – but I want them to know that their older sister in an angel now, and will always look after them, no matter what…"

"Teresa, you have to breathe – Abby told her, smiling- You need to make the breath exercises and pushing, ok?"

"Please, Patrick, promise me that you'll allow me to…"

"Of course, honey, of course, just, do as Abby told you to, ok?"

"It's important for me, Patrick. I've been raised a catholic, my mother always talked about the angels with me, when I was a kid and… I don't want our children to be atheist like you. Besides you've been the one who said God was going to hear our prayers and give us a healthy baby…"

"I'm seeing the head, Teresa, just few pushes and you'll be all right!"

"Marry me again. Promise that you'll marry me again. I loved our wedding but I want to big, white wedding my mother always talked me about. Please, Patrick, promise me that you'll marry me in a church in front of a priest…."

"Teresa, we need you to push"

"Ok, ok, -he said looking from Abby to his wife – anything, just… they… we need you to push, ok? Our baby can't wait to meet us all…"

"Ok, one more time, Teresa. You have to push with all your energy; the baby is almost out, but we need you to do this last effort, ok? – while Teresa did as she had been said, Abby turned to Patrick, holding him a pair or surgical scissors – Mr. Jane, the baby will be out in few seconds. Would you like to come here and cut the cordon?"

Patrick, even if not willingly, let it go of Teresa's hand, and went to Abby's side, without stopping to look into his wife's eyes. "Name?" a nurse asked them.

"Patrick and Teresa Jane" he answered her, without stopping to look at Abby, who already had the head of his child in her hands.

"We need the name of the baby, Mr. Jane. We're well aware of who you are."

"Oh, right, sorry – he paused, and looked at Teresa, remembering a night, few months before, when they had discussed names with Annie and her parents – eh, it was… Lucas Edward Jane if it's a boy or Julia Teresa Jane for a girl"

"Let me guess, your wife didn't want to know the sex until birth... – Abby smiled, and, few instants later, grinned – Janet, write on the papers that Lucas Edward Jane was born at 36 past 3 pm on September the 17th!"

"It's a boy! – he said while crying, while Abby took his hand in hers and guide him through the cutting process, that caused the first cry of their child to be audible and resonate in the room - Teresa, it's a boy… I just saw his eyes while he was crying and…"

"Why do you always have to be right?" she whispered, almost asleep, as Abby come back with the baby in her arms, a soft blanket around his small body, a body that had been already cleaned.

"He is blonde. Lucas in blonde just like you, Patrick…his has your same hair… I've always pictured him with blonde curls…" she said crying while holding her baby in her arms, helped by a more crying Patrick.

"He has your eyes as well. He had blonde curls and green eyes…he is our perfect mix…People will think he'll be Tony's younger brother!" he said, laughing while crying at the same time, noticing that she had, meanwhile, fallen asleep.

"Mr. Jane, your wife needs to rest, and we need to check on the baby – Abby said while she was at his side, ready to take the bay in her arms to take care of him - You family and friends are all waiting outside; do you want to go to talk them?"

Kissing the both of them, he left, while looking at the personnel guiding Teresa back into her room, from the opposite direction.

"Lucas is as healthy as his mum - he said in front of Mick, Rigsby, van Pelt and Cho; Hightower hadn't been called yet, since they were both already on leave, Claire was with the children back home and the other 2 brothers hadn't been able to come yet, since they both lived on the opposite side of the country. – we have a son!"

"Jane, I'm so happy for you!" Grace said as Rigsby, a plant in one hand, held Cho few bills, again, clearly a bit annoyed.

"Yes, Jane, congratulations to both you and the boss" Cho said in his usual tone.

"Yeah, that's for you all – Rigsby said giving him the ceramic pot – It was Grace's idea. She said that flowers weren't going to last, and that a real plant, instead, could grown with the baby."

"It's a fichus Benjamin, Jane. It doesn't need too much to live, and when your son will be an adult, he will still have it."

"How's Terrie?" Mick asked, while looking at his brother in law, who was still a bit dreamy.

"After having blackmailed me in marrying her again in a religious ceremony, she has been brought back into her room; Lucas should already be there with her…"

"How does he look like? Did he take after you or after the boss?" From Grace's tone of voice and jumping, everyone got the idea, and Rigsby in particular, that her boyfriend was in danger: the woman loved too much children, it was a matter of fact before she was going to ask him to work on one…and she probably was going to ask him once seen Lucas.

"Why don't you go see it by yourself? - Jane turned, and found, at his side, Abby, the young doctor, assistant to the one who was supposed to deliver Lucas into the world, who was putting a hand on his arm, like to calm him down, to reassure him of something – your wife is back awake, and the baby is with her. If you'll be too noisy, I'll allow you inside"

"Is the baby here yet? I want to see it! - Abby smiled, as she looked down at her feet, and found that the voice belonged to a baby girl who looked like Teresa Lisbon-Jane, who had decided to entangle her arm in Jane's legs. – Please, Uncle Patrick!"

"Oh, I knew we were going to be late! I'm sorry, I had to leave Tony with Mrs. Ramones, our sitter wasn't feeling well today…- Abby kept looking at the scene, amused, as another woman joined the club; in her late twenties, she was blonde, and, as soon as she had come, hugged Patrick with tears in her eyes –Oh, Patrick, I'm so happy for you and Tess! How is the baby? Is it a boy or a girl? What name did you chose?"

"I think I'll have to repeat myself, for once- Abby said, smiling – you can go and see it yourself, just, be quick. Teresa needs to rest"

Quickly, the group followed Patrick inside a single room, where, from the bed, where she was sitting, an half awake Teresa was looking at the crib at her right, while playing with her mother's beloved crux she had, in the meanwhile, put back in the place it belonged to, around her neck.

"I brought gift" he said kissing her on the temples.

"I'm glad you are here. Hey" she said as, one by one, she was hugged by everyone.

"May I hold the baby? Dad didn't allow me to hold Tony when he was born; he said Aunt Tessie had to do it first..."

"Uncle Patrick will help you, though- Teresa said as she looked, amused, at the scene, her husband helping the 6 years old girl into holding the baby boy, before to find, at her side, her favorite brother and his wife – he is wonderful, isn't he?"

"He is the perfect mix of us – he clarified, almost crying – there's so much of her mum in him, and of me as well. He has blonde curls, and... And green eyes. He seems to have taken after me in the muscular structure, but it's a bit early to say, although I'm quite sure he'll come out just like me. He has Teresa's voice, though; you should have heard him crying… - he paused, smiling and crying at the same time… he is prefect, simply perfect, our little miracle…"

"Physically, he is a bit like… - Teresa looked at open mouth and wide eyes at her brother, hit by a realization – Mick, when you come to me that morning how did you recognize Patrick?"

"Well, you always talked about him…. And – he paused, a bit embarrassed – and you may have told Claire about… well, how he looked like."

"Mick, you didn't give me Tony because he had blonde curls and green eyes and wanted to see me admitting my feelings for the man, right?"

"No, I didn't! – he paused – Claire did, though."

"You know, people should really stoop to bet on my private life, because I think it's getting really annoying and…"

"Daddy, can you give me a sister or a brother instead of the pony?"

* * *

Ah! as always, jane was right...it was a baby boy! and, for the ones of you who wonder why of all the things in the universe I decided to give Teresa a ficus Benjamin... well, when, 18 years ago, my mother had my brother, her best girlfirends gaver her such plant, that was only 40-50 cm high; now, 18 years later, we still have it, and it's almost 3 m...


	15. We are in this together

From One-shot,. the story has been promoted to multi-chapter, although I'm not quite sure how many more you'll have; Many of you asked for a sequel, and so, I thought about giving a bit more of space to Annie and the marvelous Jisbon romace we're still waiting to see in "reality"...

As always, thanks to everyone who, with reviews, or putting me and the story on alert or on fav, gave me resons to go on with this story.

And, please, keep in mind: I still don't ow the mentalist...

* * *

"Lucas is not going anywhere, Patrick" Jane knew that his son wasn't going to go anywhere- it was logical, since he was barely one week old, and had left the hospital just that same day, but he couldn't help what he was doing; he couldn't help not sleeping, he couldn't help standing the whole night sitting at the crib's side, looking at the newborns creature with a sense of anxiety he didn't remember feeling when he had his daughter.

Of course, that was the problem – he had failed as a father the first time, why could this time be any different? Of course, he no longer claimed t be a psych, and tended to keep his mouth shout when cameras were around, but it still doesn't mean that…

"Patrick, Lucas is not leaving any time soon. I want you back in bed - As Teresa embraced him from the back, giving a quick kiss on his shoulder, he turned, and kissed, in the same time, her hair, while still standing in front of his son. – Patrick, I know how you feel…"

_You didn't kill your family _he was going to say, but, then, he thought about what this was really about. It wasn't just Red John, since red John was dead, it was something else. He was…he was being a dad. He shivered at the thought of having a teenager daughter… that would be difficult, he knew that. With a hint of a smile on his face, he put his arm around Teresa's shoulders, and guided her back to bed, knowing that it wasn't about killers and maniacs and perps, it was about life. He was being a dad, that's all.

"Sweetie, I know you were used to insomnia- she said as they were entangled under the covers, almost one- but I think one of us should take a nap, once in a while. As you said – she said kissing the tip of his noise, giggling – Lucas took after me in the screaming department"

"Maybe I should have stayed awake, to bring him to you. After all we still have only, what, less than 15 before he'll probably be awake?"

He hadn't ended the question that, as he had hear them talking about him, Lucas decided to perform his father's favorite show in the world, and, first at low voice, then extremely loudly, he made his presence noticeable.

"Have I already told you how much I hate when you are right?" She sat in the bed, adjusting the pillows so that breastfeeding Lucas couldn't be a problem, and happily accepted her son in her arms, making Patrick understand that not only pregnancy had done a number on her – it was being a mother that made her so beautiful and radiant.

"Really, and here I thought it was the reason you loved me so much! – he sat on the bed, in front of her, Indian style, captivated by the sight of his son and of his wife, together, and, when he noticed her grinning at him, he tried to humor her, in his usual way – well, can't say I blame him if her loves his mummy's breasts so much. I love them as well!"

In the past, she would have rolled her eyes at the comment, especially if it was something coming from Jane, but right now, all he got was sending her into giggles. "Thanks for waking up with me" she said, tenderly, removing her eyes from Luc to face Patrick, green in blue, lost and captivated – the both of them; just then, the baby started to make small verses of amusement, signaling that he no longer was hungry, and, as soon as he saw that, like it was an automatic response, Patrick took the baby from Teresa, and, holding him chest to chest while drawing circles on his back, he started to walk across the room, sweetly singing at low voice a melody she had never heard of…

_In the dark of the ageless night, between sweet wefts I look for my blue sea. The dreams know what's inside my heart, and with them I'll carry on…_

_It will open its big wings, and then my sweet dream will walk at my side, like a flying steed you'll be, I want for you to never end._

_And now, now, fly, fly away, my flying steed, I'll tighten the grip on you, together we will fly up to the moon and the planets, where already is shining that sweet sun that my thought and my memories will embrace._

_And now, now, fly, fly away, sweet song of liberty, with you I'll understand that I can fly on my own; here I am, flying with my azure wings…_

"He loves when you do it, you know? - She smiled, as she looked at her husband, holding his son, and singing softly to the baby while gently bouncing his tummy. – He knows that it's you who's singing and talking to him, and he feels…- she stopped, unsure if she really had to use the word or not – you make him feel safe, Patrick"

"He is a good boy, you know- he stopped, as he put Luc back in the crib, still looking at him through the finger of the hands he had used to cover his face, not because he was tired, but because he was ashamed of himself – My daughter… she woke up every hour, for the first 4 months. I didn't keep her safe, Tess. How can I be sure I'll be able to protect him? What if I fail him? What if I…"

"We'll go through this, Patrick. - She said hugging him again from the back – we'll make it work. We found a way to make our story work; I don't see why we couldn't make a family work, right?"

"I know, but… I've always thought that I failed her as a father mostly because I didn't have any parental guidance, any… role model."

"Patrick, this elephant will always be in the room, but you're not the only one with parental issues, ok? – She parted a bit mad with him, tears in her eyes – do you know how many times I ended up in the hospital with broken bones? How many times I had to cover myself up even in summer because of the bruises? My father was the worst man in the world, and yes, even if you don't think so, I'm scared. I'm scared I'll fail as mother that I'll become like him. But, Patrick – she said kissing him – we are in this together. We'll make it, Patrick, together, being at each other's side."

He repeated the gesture he had done just half an hour before, and, guided Teresa in bed, he stayed there, embraced to his wife, thinking.

No, he wasn't going to screw this. He wasn't going to fail this child, this family… he was going to make it work.

With a smile that reached the ceiling, he fell asleep. At least, until Lucas decided he needed to get changed, ten minutes later…


	16. Your mother is a vixen

From One-shot,. the story has been promoted to multi-chapter, although I'm not quite sure how many more you'll have; Many of you asked for a sequel, and so, I thought about giving a bit more of space to Annie and the marvelous Jisbon romace we're still waiting to see in "reality"...

As always, thanks to everyone who, with reviews, or putting me and the story on alert or on fav, gave me resons to go on with this story.

And, please, keep in mind: I still don't ow the mentalist...

* * *

After having had Lucas, both Patrick and Teresa decided they were going to maintain the promise they made to each other; they wanted to get married properly (Well, Teresa wanted to get married properly; Patrick just wanted what made Teresa happy, and if a big, white and boring wedding was what made her happy, he wasn't going to complain- especially if she did him the pleasure to do everything on her own and leave him out. He could survive everything, but he was pretty sure that he couldn't survive the joined forces of Teresa, Claire, Grace and a wedding planner…) but they knew they could both wait. Their son was their first priority, as they remembered themselves, at loud, they day Father Lucas Christianized his namesake, with Mick and a very 6 months pregnant of twins ("like I knew you were pregnant the moment you stepped in hospital, I know you'll get a boy and a girl" had said Jane as Annie had run into his arms to give him the news 3 months earlier) Claire as godparents of the child the day he turned 5 months old.

Besides… besides, technically, they were already married, so they had to allow a certain other couple to get married properly first, and, grinning, while sitting doing a Sudoku puzzle in Teresa's office on their first day back from leave, Patrick couldn't help but think that it was going to happen sooner that they all expected (after all, wasn't him the great and almighty mentalist, who could read them all as an open book? Who was he kidding? Reading Rigsby was even easier than reading an open book in your own language!)

"Do I want to know about what you are thinking about?" she asked him without stopping to look at the reports and all the paperwork she had to do on her first day back (because, apparently, his concept of behaving was still a bit different from their own, and her husband still requested special… controls).

"Just that I have to be at the day nursery in a couple of hours, honey, that's all"

"Do you think that they'll get married soon? – She said standing in front of him, hands in the back pockets of her black jeans – I mean, Rigsby and Van pelt have been back together for almost an year and an half now, and everybody knows they'll eventually get married, so I wonder, why do you think he isn't asking her yet?"

Ok, wait a sec, what the hell was happening? He was the mentalist, he was the one who was supposed to know things and do tricks with people's mind, not her! Not at all, she was Saint Teresa, and he was the only one allowed to be the great and almighty mentalist!

"Patrick?" she had to call him at least 4 times, before he actually answered herm and, even when he did, he stood, going in front of her, his eyes as dark as they hadn't been in a long time, his voice husky and terribly sexy…

"You know I definitely have a bad influence on you, my dear Teresa – he said kissing the tender skin of her neck and sucking it where the collar of the shirt was going to hide his love marks – and it's terribly sexy…"

Smiling and laughing, putting her curate hands on his chest, she pushed him away from her, crossing her arms, smirking at him.

"How do you know he is going to propose?" she asked him, facing each other but at opposite sides of the room, her against her desk, him against the door.

"Wayne asked me advice on the ring's choosing - he had to admit, a bit annoyed (but he was sure that, hadn't Rigsby gone to him for advice, he still had knew that the man was going to propose). How do you know it?"

"Grace needed a notepad, and, while he was out to talk with a witness, she raided his desk looking for one. She found the ring in one of the drawers – Teresa paused, amused, looking at Jane and then outside, trying to image the scene in her head, unable to, since the only proposes she had ever seen were the ones form movies and Jane's odd ones – she'll want the big, white wedding"

"We'll have the white, big wedding – he said calmly, at low voice – That, of course, if you still want it"

"Let them get married first. I mean, we know he'll propose, and we know Grace will say yes, so, I don't see why we should run into things again"

He grinned at closed eyes, his head against the glass surface at his back; he knew what she was talking about; everybody was asking them why running into this as they did (both her family and the CBI gang thought it was because she was pregnant) but, well… ok, maybe they got together during the first date, and maybe he asked her to marry him just a couple of months after said experience, but, hey, where they counting the years and years of foreplay? Hell, no! In his eyes, they had been done the dance for even a way too long, and every damn night (well, at least in the night she wasn't keeping him busy with… family activities) he asked himself why waiting for that long… ("Well, because you're an egomaniacal, showinistic, self-centered asshole who couldn't handle the thought of relying on someone else, Patrick" she answered him with her most lovable sarcastic grin as he dared, in one of his dreamy states, to ask her why he had been that idiot loose all that precious time "and before you could reply, Patrick, I didn't do the first move because I didn't want to give you the satisfaction of saying that you were able to win me over like you used to do with the rest of female global population. And, no Patrick, I'm not being sarcastic")

Given Teresa a last kiss while interlacing their fingers (her ringed fingers, since, after her number with Hightower, she had started wearing them both everyday on her hands and no longer around her neck), Patrick had to say goodbye to his wife, even if neither of them really wanted to (apparently, they both possessed the ability to transform a cast kiss into a heavy make-out session, heavy and extremely hot, make out session) but forced by law (listening to Hightower cursing them because they were doing what they wanted to at the office? No, thanks, besides, he still loved his job and wanted to keep it as long as possible), and common sense (he really did prefer pregnant and hormonal Tess, all driven by hormones, craving for his body all night and day…) and decency ("Patrick, we work here, we can't, ok? It's not… it's the office!").

"I'll go get Lucas. Do you want something special for dinner?"

"Just your best recipe" she said grinning and laughing, coming back to her work, and the paperwork the man needed.

At eight o' clock (yeah, it was weird, and she found incredible: she had not one, but two reasons to get back home before midnight! Why wasn't she having champagne everyday to celebrate? It was something worth celebrating; it was, like, the man on the moon, or the greatest scientific discovery of the century!) She run back home, and, once inside, she threw her purse on the carpet and run to him, still busy in the kitchen, and, her hands on his shoulders, she kept jumping like s child.

"Do I want to know?" he asked her with a quizzical look, the look she was usually sending him when he behaved weirdly (sometimes he woke up in the middle on the night, a bit freaked out about how much she was influencing him. Ah, and he was the one talking about a bad influence…)

"You should have seen it! It was almost six, and we were doing paperwork; Wayne had acted weirdly the whole afternoon, until, out of the blue, he leaves his desk, and, once in front of Grace's one, he kneels and, alls serious and worried, asks her to marry him! You should have seen him, all grown up and big boy and all, but freaked out as a kid!"

"I'll not bother remembering you how my proposal had been a way better than this; I'll just say that your body language tells me that she said yes…"

"No shit, psych" she said laughing, while "stealing" a bit of the sauce he had done for the pasta.

"Language, woman, our son is here, sleeping, but still here –laughing like her, he gave on her hand, the one that was still holding a piece of bread, a wooden spoon – and stop stealing. Few minutes and you'll get everything you want"

"Everything I want, you said? – She got closer, and, taken him for the collar of the shirt, kissed him languidly, with dark eyes full of lust and desire and malice – you must be careful with what you say, Mr. Jane, I could expect you to maintain your word…"

Knowing too well that Lucas had eaten just half an hour before and that, thanks to his blessed rhythms, wasn't going to wake up for another good hour or so, walking backward so that he could see her in the eyes, Teresa reached with patience their bedroom, trying to not break contact with him, slowing undressing herself along the way, so that, once at the door, just her panties were still on.

"Good thing you are still asleep, bud, otherwise you'd be ruined for life… - he looked at Luc, trying to do as he had done many times, when his mind dared to go in places it wasn't supposed to in times that weren't suitable for such thoughts – you should ask your mother if she is thinking about building a soccer team, because, if this is the foreplay, I really don't mind…- he paused, smirking at the still asleep kid – or maybe she simply hates me, and enjoys a way too much turning me on without any reason."

"Patrick – she said crossing her arms, again out of the bedroom, this time in nothing but her birth-day suite – you know, I'm in serious need of a shower, but apparently, taking down that suspect this morning didn't do any good to my poor back… do you think that you could put Lucas in his crib and come here to help me?"

"I'm here to serve and please you, darling – he said taking his son in his arms leaving him in the nursery, switching on the baby monitor and taking one of the wireless speakers with himself – besides, I did promise you everything you wanted, right?"

"And we all know that Patrick Jane always keeps his promises – she said with a low, seductive voice, malice well recognizable, grabbing him for the collar and kissing him again, just to leave him all high and wishful for more, walking in the shower followed by him like she was some goddess and he was his trusted and faithful follower- especially the ones made to the Lisbon's women…"


	17. Grace's ideal wedding

From One-shot,. the story has been promoted to multi-chapter, although I'm not quite sure how many more you'll have; Many of you asked for a sequel, and so, I thought about giving a bit more of space to Annie and the marvelous Jisbon romace we're still waiting to see in "reality"...

As always, thanks to everyone who, with reviews, or putting me and the story on alert or on fav, gave me resons to go on with this story.

And, please, keep in mind: I still don't ow the mentalist...

* * *

Teresa had an idea of what she wanted her wedding to look like, and, as beautiful as marrying Jane the first time had been, that didn't even get close to her ideal wedding dream (counting the guy who married them, herself and Patrick, there had been exactly 12 people and the wedding), But, still, it was just an idea, a vision, in a certain way, while Grace, instead…

Grace didn't have an idea of how she wanted her wedding to look like, Grace _knew _what she wanted for her wedding, and, apparently, she knew it since the tender age of 6.

Apparently, Grace's family was the typical American large family, and, apparently, Grace was the perfect little girl every father would have, and the scrapbook about her wedding showed how typical she was; the fact that it was typical didn't helped the fact that, the first time she saw it on Grace's desk, the day after the proposal, Lisbon was taken back and, frankly, a bit scared as well: Grace hadn't just planned the season she wanted to get married in, the music, the flowers, the kind of dinner and the menu she wanted to have after the ceremony; Grace had even personally choose the dress more than ten years prior, with the help of her younger sister (because, as scary as it was, what she had choose for her wedding day was Millennium's Barbie wedding dress) and the ones of the bridesmaids (again a curtsey of Mattel Toys, to be more precise, of Barbie's friends playing bridesmaids), that were in an horrible nuance of green that she hated.

The bad thing was that it took them a lifetime to find someone who accepted to realize the dresses. The good thing was, once resolved that problem, since everything was already decided (apparently, Wayne's idea of planning a wedding was the same as Jane – let her do what makes her happy, and you'll be happy as well, especially in some departments) planning the wedding was going to be quick and easy.

And it was: after the 3 months needed to get the dress of her dreams, Lisbon's dress was there, hanging against the wardrobe, and the only thing her owner seemed to want to do about it was staring at the "creation" at crossed arms, while waiting to wear it the following day.

"You'll be lovely" he told her, hugging from the back and placing a kiss on her shoulder. Teresa tuned to face him, smiling a bit, of that I'm annoyed kind of sarcastic smile.

"Patrick, let's face the truth: not even Claudia Shiffer or Naomi Campbell could look lovely with a marsh green dress"

"Well, at least you don't have to wear a tuxedo – he said with the same look she had before facing the dress at the side of his wife's one, his dress for the wedding – besides, I don't know, there's something about that dress that speaks to me…"

At the last statement, underlined by an enormous grin, she rolled in response his eyes; the dress was speaking to him? Please! After they got together, everything spoke to him at maximum volume! Hell, he looked at her like a vulture ready to jump on her and making her clothes into pieces even when she was wearing just a track suit!

"Jane, all my clothes say something to you."

"Yes, dear, but when you wear the ones that hug you so well… Sorry, but I can't help but wanting you so badly when you have something like that on- he made one of his trademarks smile, hugging her just to have a full session of tickling – sorry, but if you want to blame someone, just blame yourself!"

Normally, it took him longer to convince her to lose her inhibitions, especially when there was the danger of Lucas starting to cry, but, for once, he didn't even had to start the battle at all- she gave up as soon as their bodies hit the bed.

The following day, everything went as planned.

The Cathedral was full of tulips and lilacs and lilies and roses; the orchestra (yes, there was a small orchestra) was playing as everyone walked towards the aisle, Teresa and Patrick (Lucas was too small to play the role of the flower boy, being just 8 months old; he couldn't already walk, but his Aunt Grace and his Uncle Wayne wanted him there at any cost, so he got to stay in his Aunt Claire's arms), Cho and his girlfriend (a nice woman a bit younger than him called Amanda), Grace's two brothers with their wives and, finally, her sister and her husband, as everyone took place at the respective sides of the aisle, Grace's nice walked, in the same way Annie had when, two years before given or taken, Teresa and Patrick got married; finally, at her father's arms, Grace entered in the church, dressed as a princess, and behaving like one.

There were the tears, there were the cheers, the hurrahs, there were everything grace had wanted from her wedding day, and, mostly, she had Wayne, like she had hoped since day one (and, even if she didn't want to admit it, the definition of day one featured on her dictionary wasn't "the first day we kissed" or "the day we got together", but "first day of work at the CBI, when I put my eyes on the hottest guy I've ever met, and no, I'm not talking about Jane- for Jane, see Most Irritating man of ever"). There was the dinner, and there was the best wine California could offer (that Teresa refused; apparently, Jane had spoiled her, with all those wines from Italy and France… and before they started dating, she used to buy her own wine at the supermarket. Ah, what bad influence the man was having on his wife…), and, obviously, there were the dances with the slow music- with Jane that accepted to see his Lisbon dancing only with the Jane males, him and their son, dressed with a tuxedo in miniature, with the tie drawn on the shirt.

"Are you all right? Teresa, what's wrong?" he said, worried, as he tried to convince her to give up dancing after the last headache of the day.

"I'm fine, I'm just a bit… dizzy, I think. It had to be the confusion, and then… I'm happy for them, this is all. They almost – she started to cry – they almost lose it all because I haven't been able to fight for my team and if not for you…"

"Technically speaking, you were the one who made a scene at Hightower because she didn't want Rigsby and van Pelt together, while ordering me to shout up. Hottest thing of ever, my love…" he said, matter of fact, with calm and soft voice, trying to reassure her, as his wife kept her face against his shoulder; it was weird, because Teresa was behaving all emotional and hormonal, but he was sure that she wasn't in that part of the month yet, and that was the only possible option. Well, there was still another option, but… nah, he sent the thought away. It couldn't be possible; after all… No, it was too early, but, still… no, no way, she couldn't… or could she?

"You know – he said grinning, hoping that his bellowed wife wasn't going to laugh at his statement – I didn't realize the dress hugged your forms so well, the first time you tried it on, a month ago..."

"I put on some weight. You always say I'm too petite, are you complaining now?" she tried to say, looking everywhere but at him, while keeping the same peace at dancing, and doing the terrible mistake of biting her lips (he really didn't need to be a mentalist to know that we she avoided eye-contact and bite her lips was because she was telling lies, other lies and more lies…)

"Oh, no, I'm not complaining, I mean, look at yourself. You've never been that beautiful before. It's like you are shining, glowing in a divine aura of beatitude and magnificence. Like I'm not complaining – he continued, looking into her eyes, his grin getting bigger and bigger with the seconds passing – about the fact that you seem unable to resist the urge to drag me to the closest private place. I mean the coat closet? I'm your husband, and a mentalist, and I didn't see that coming!"

"Stop to smile like an idiot, or you'll never get lucky with me again" she hissed stepping in his feet on purpose with her high heeled, thinking that God or who for him had made them for a good reason then, and not to torture her, but to hurt that annoying brat of her husband.

"Ouch, Teresa, you hurt me! – he pretending being hurt, both emotionally and physically, a hand on his heart (and, since said hand was still holding hers, she ended having one hand on his heart as well) - you know, Tess, you've been very emotional in the last few days…"

"I'm going through a visit of my monthly friend" she tried, again, to defend herself, doing the same mistake of the first time he had asked her a question that evening.

"Tess, I've learned to keep track of your menstruations, because it's how they are called, and no way I'll call them Monthly friend or whatever you women call them for unknown even to God reasons… anyway, I've learned to keep track of them two months after I joined your unit, and, as you once said, you are never early or late, you are a Swiss clock, with a perfect interval of 28 days. Meaning – he said whispering in her right ear – you are not having menstruations right now"

She looked at him with panic: of course she knew Patrick knew everything about her, and she was well aware that he had this knowledge even before they started dating, but this? He knew of her cycle? He… he calculated it? What the hell was wrong with this man? Oh Lord and she had married him. Great, now she had to stick with him for life, health and sickness and blah, blah, blah…

"Teresa, May I ask you a simple question?" he looked into her eyes, smiling happy, seeing that she was, instead, a bit frightened, unsecure, and he really didn't know why. Even if he was right, she didn't have to be scared, or, was she having second thoughts, or maybe, maybe, maybe…

"Patrick, I know how your mind works, and I know what the question is going to be, but, you see, the fact is… – she lowered her voice, not as scared as he thought she was, there was something else – I only did one of those do it yourself test, and… well, I'll not allow myself… - she corrected herself immediately – I'll not allow ourselves to believe it until I'll heard Abby saying so."

He took her in his arms, tightening his hold around her, and, slow dancing, started to whisper again to her. "I'll not mind if you'll want to get married with that beautiful big tummy of yours… of course, we can wait until she'll be born…"

"She" she simply stated looking into his eyes, looking quizzically at her husband with lifted eyebrows.

"Of course, Teresa, because, as I know you're really pregnant, and my question was just about how far you think we could be – he said with that idiotic 100 watts smile of his, pinching the tip of her nose like he did to Annie and Toni many times, and like he was going soon to do with his godchildren, Mick and Claire's twins Alexis and Jason – I know we are going to have a daughter!"

He couldn't know for sure that she was pregnant, or the gender of the baby yet. Ok, he had guessed the sex of both Lucas and of the twins, but it was luck, right? It wasn't like he was a real psych, he just was…

"You know Jane, sometimes I really hate you"

"Ehy, if this is the way you behave with the people you hate, what are you going to do with the ones you really love? -he joked, doing that same idiotic expression. – ah, the soccer team is coming…"

"The soccer team…. Do I want to know what you are talking about?"

"Just answer the goddamn question, woman, and tell me we'll get married again!"

"Ehy, I was the one who asked you in the first place!"

"But I'm the one who asked you today and you haven't told me if you want to marry me while you'll be expecting Julie?"

"Julie?" She asked with a tender voice, almost broken by tears, but smiling happy at the same time. He hadn't forgotten!

"Yeah, Juliet Teresa Jane… we wanted to use it for our firstborn, was it going to be a girl, I don't see why we shouldn't…"

He was going to end the sentence, he really didn't know how, but he knew he was going to, but… as soon as Teresa took his face between his hands and kissed him on the lips while in tears of happiness, like she had done when she had told him of Lucas, he really didn't care at all. They really didn't need any word.

"Yes"

"Ok, Tess, listen, you have to stop this, ok? Because you answer with a monosyllable without specifying what you are answering to, so I don't know if you are answering yes to the will you marry me again question, or to the will you marry me while you'll be waiting to have Julie question, and even if I claimed to be a psych, it doesn't mean that I…"

Again he was going to end the question; again he was stopped by her lips on his own. "Find me a decent maternity wedding dress – she said between kisses – and I'll marry you before the end of this pregnancy, ok?"

"Like I love to repeat you, woman- he said between kisses, smiling in them and forcing Teresa to suppress the moans of pleasure he was sending through her entire body – I live to save, serve and pleasure you…"

Yeah, he really enjoyed Teresa under hormones; he really, really loved her…


	18. Wrapping your own head

From One-shot,. the story has been promoted to multi-chapter, although I'm not quite sure how many more you'll have; Many of you asked for a sequel, and so, I thought about giving a bit more of space to Annie and the marvelous Jisbon romace we're still waiting to see in "reality"...

As always, thanks to everyone who, with reviews, or putting me and the story on alert or on fav, gave me resons to go on with this story.

Oh, yes, the damn disclaimer: seriosuly, do we really have to do it? Because, Jeez, if I'd own them, I'd not be here writing it, I'd be the writeer of a TV Shows and, well, we'd have the LIsbon romance for real...

meanwhile, I just **_"write, draw, create, dream, hope and believe in Bruno, waiting for him to be blessed bu the light of reason..." _**(No, this discalimer isn't mine, it belongs to one fo the girls who wite Mentalist fiction on the italian site efpfiction, but don't tell me many of you don't share this vision...)

* * *

All her coworkers knew how she looked like when pregnant, she knew it. She knew she was different when pregnant, and the mere thought of them spotting her little "dirty" secret before she (they, damn, they! It's their little secret!) Before she could tell herself… it's not a scary thought, but she really preferred to do it herself, that's all. That, if Patrick didn't run in the bullpen screaming "I'm going to be a dad again!" as soon as he entered in the building… (Yes, she could definitely see him doing so; when exited, his behavior's like the one of five years olds, but it's not like you didn't know it when you started dating him…)

"Even if I'm excited about us having a daughter and getting married again, I'm not going to scream at everyone that you are pregnant."

Patrick slept on his side of the bed, on his stomach, almost cuddled to her, while Teresa, thanks to her pregnancy insomnia (only God knew why all the women could get more sleep while pregnant while she could suffer of insomnia for the first months) was sitting, reading Twilight (because, apparently, pregnancy hormones didn't just made her cry, but forced her to read those kinds of things- and to be team Carlyle.)

"I wasn't thinking about that- she tried to defend herself. That's something she hated, when he went on playing mind games on her (a husband should never try to read his wife's mind. Wasn't it written somewhere in the Constitution?)- I was thinking about… I was thinking about Twilight!" tried to smile, one of those forced smiles he knew too well, and, even half asleep he could, and can, recognize, she practically thrown at his the cover of the book.

"Tess, the fact that I'm sleeping means that I'm happy. You know – he paused, trying to remain awake- you know that I've never really stopped to sleep just few hours…."

"How do you think that he'll react?" Oh, Lord. She was panicking; he could almost hear the sobs… 5 seconds to tears. As much as lovely she used to be in this state when she was having Lucas, if she was going to be this way with Julie right from the beginning, he wasn't that sure that he could go on with the dream of the soccer team.

"WE know many "he", Tess. Care to explain?" Ok, no need to keep sleeping, right? Not until his wife kept sobbing and/or shouting at him. The best move could be sitting at her side to try to calm her down, and if talking didn't work… well, seduction always made a number on her when Lucas was coming, and she calmed down in no time. Well, it wasn't big deal. What woman could resist him? No woman, that was the answer, there was no reason to believe that his magic couldn't work on her, after all, they always had….

"OUR SON, YOU IDIOT! HOW THE HELL DID I EVEN THOUGHT THAT YOU WERE GOING TO CHANGE FOR ME? YOU'VE ALWAYS BEEN SUCH A JERK, SUCH A PRANKSTER, AND… DO YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW WHAT I WAS THINKING? I WAS THINKING THAT ANNIE WAS FIVE WHEN YOU MET HER, AND, MENTALLY, YOU WERE AS WELL, BUT AT LEAST NOW SHE HAS GROWN UP, WHILE YOU ARE STILL THE SAME!"

"If he'll be as happy as I am, he'll the happiest kid alive" he said, massaging his ears, after was gone to take a hot chocolate with marshmallows in the middle of night.

10 minutes later, she was back in the room, holding him a cup of his favorite tea like she had done so many times even before they dated (yeah, weird, she knew, but she had always knew how he liked his tea. She knew how he liked many things, not only beverage and food… well, with the exception of herself, because she didn't know he liked her, she really knew a lot about the blonde angel… or was it demon? Sometimes or was hard to say…)

"What with the malicious grin, Tess?" he said her, looking into her emerald eyes while smelling the fragrance of his favorite tea. (Didn't she really know he saw her as the human incarnation of perfection?)

"I didn't have a malicious grin!" she replied scandalized (sure, like she could actually be scandalized….)

"I'd say that you were thinking about me…" he started with his usual mentalist tone, the one he usually used when he was bothering people who, she knew, would sign papers against him.

"Let me think about it… I'm married with, in bed with you, you are the father of my children, I work with you and I have to pay attention to you every damn day of my existence at work… I'd say that you don't need to be the mentalist you are to know that"

"Well, I was going to say that you were thinking about me and all the marvelous things I do to your body when we are in bed… and not only." He said her while starting to kiss his way from her earlobe to her lips.

Ah, payback was really biting her! She may have only spitted her chocolate, but the thing she did to him (but mostly to his anatomy) were simply torture, sweet, but still a torture, and that's the least he could do to her, right?

"_You wonna wear my kiss all over your body, once you try it on, you can't live without it. You wonna wear my kiss all over your lips, I promise you this, you wonna wear my kiss…"_ he sing-sang between kisses, making his way under the covers, making her giggle and laugh under her breath.

"Sugarbabes, Patrick, I'm impressed… - she giggled as he reached her bellybutton, uncovering it from her pajama shirt (well, his pajama shirt, to be more precise. Another weird thing about the two of them was how they complimented each other even in sleepwear. He wore only the button, she wore only the top. Wasn't that a scene from some movie?)- Seriously, Patrick, don't you think we are exaggerating? I mean, Abby will call tomorrow to tell us the results of the blood test, so, maybe, we shouldn't warp our heads so early, maybe we should just wait and…"

He stopped her dedicating again attention to her lips, a hard, wet kiss on the mouth, silencing her.

"You know – he said with that smile of him, the one that sent her knees into jelly – if after my ministrations you can still talk, it means I'm losing my touch, I mean, you shouldn't be able to formulate coherent thoughts, not after…" dipping her fingers in his blond curls, Teresa reserved the same treatment to her husband: she silenced him with her mouth- and that was only the beginning.

"Tess, do you mind some role-play? Because I really feel like playing the last scene of The Ugly Truth…"

The following morning, weirdest thing of ever, Teresa couldn't eat; while Patrick was making himself an healthy breakfast (trying to eat something else was pointless: they had to be ready for when, once discovered of the pregnancy, Grace would show up every day at their doorstep with healthy food for… well, last time she prepared it for 3, this time, he guessed, she was going to do 4 portions each day…) all she could do was sitting at the kitchen table, tipping with her red nails against the wooden surface, and looking at the cordless like it was some kind of magical or cursed object (or a dog ready to bite her).

"Do you know what they say about teapots and looking them while waiting for them to boil?"

She looked at him without patient, thinking that, for once, his sarcasm wasn't exactly of help "I know that it will not ring just because I want it to! If it was, I'd point at it, and say, I don't know, abracadabra, let's ring! - As she pointed the index to the object, she screamed, as it… started to ring – Ah! Oh lord, Patrick, do something, there are the poltergeists!"

Without replying to his wife (not that he minded how she had jumped on him while screaming, and it was quite hot as well, but, well, couldn't she be serious for a moment?) he took the phone, and, rolling his eyes at the almost in tears woman, answered placidly.

"Here it's the Lisbon-Jane home speaking, how can we help you? - He smiled, as he listened to the voice at the other end of the line – Abby, it's good to see hear from you again! No, we were still at home… well, I didn't even want to call you. I mean, she was so emotional that only hormone… no, no, ok, I'll tell her, yes, sure. Ok, ok – he closed the call, and looked at Teresa, who was (again) on the verge of tears. Why the hell was he always so calm? – Tess, honey, I need you to be calm… I know it will be hard, but, we will go through it and…"

"I'm not pregnant, I knew it! it is not right, I wanted to give you a daughter, and I wanted to have almost no distance between the kids, and I'm so sorry and…"

"According to what you told her, you should be in your second month by now" he said stopping her; again, he was doing the good and calm cop, while Teresa… well, Teresa was the cop on the verge of a nervous breakdown: that was all.

"I'm really pregnant? – She jumped in his arms again, her arms around his neck, his ones around her waist, spinning in circles like they were dancing in the air– Patrick, we're going to have a baby! Patrick, we're going to have a baby, we'll have a wonderful baby and I want you to… - she paused for a moment, starting to cry again – I want you to get the camera now!"

"The camera?" he stopped the dance, looking at her in the eyes; Teresa was crying, the good kind of tears, though, and, as soon s he turned to look in the direction her eyes were looking at, he saw it.

Leaning against a chair near the sofa where he was sitting playing with his teddies, embracing the piece of furniture, Lucas was standing, falling every time he tried, but never letting it go; Patrick just took the camera in time to collect the precious moment, that the laughing and smiling 9 months old started to walk in direction of his parents, both in the kitchen, both on their knees, waiting at open arms for him to join them.

As he embraced the baby, happy as almost never before, Teresa smiled. It was clear he was happy. It was clear he was a great dad. It was clear she wanted to give him the daughter he wanted so much. It was clear she wasn't regretting a single moment spent with this man. And she wasn't thinking about the time he had kissed her in his office after having predicted their wedding, she was thinking about the time she had first set her eyes on him, the first time he had put foot in her office, not that she was going to admit to him that she had fell for him the second they met… he was already too full of himself without knowing that he had seen right even that time… Now, they could wrap their heads, and start thinking about how they were going to tell everyone that she was AGAIN pregnant, after less than one year…

* * *

I'll say it again because I loved teh damn sentence just too much: **_we all_ _write, draw, create, dream, hope and believe in Bruno, waiting for him to be blessed bu the light of reason... _**(P.S - References: The sugarbabes song is "wear my kiss" - i song I like a bit to sing whrn I'm under the shower, while the scene, she wearing the top of the pajama, him wearing the button, isn't exactly froma movie; In THE HOLIDAY , When Kate Winslet talks with the old man who used to write movies who happens to live next door, he tells her that a magical movie moment that would work would be "a man and a woman are in a shop. he is looking for some pajama pants. she is looking for some pajama shirts. they find themselves in front of the exposition, taking the same item, they look into each other's eyes, and the magic is there" - obviously, this is not the phrase, but just how i remember it, it's been a while since I last saw the movie...)


	19. It may run in the family

From One-shot,. the story has been promoted to multi-chapter, although I'm not quite sure how many more you'll have; Many of you asked for a sequel, and so, I thought about giving a bit more of space to Annie and the marvelous Jisbon romace we're still waiting to see in "reality"...

As always, thanks to everyone who, with reviews, or putting me and the story on alert or on fav, gave me resons to go on with this story- and soprry for the delay, but work was too much to handle last week.

Oh, yes, the damn disclaimer: seriosuly, do we really have to do it? Because, Jeez, if I'd own them, I'd not be here writing it, I'd be the writeer of a TV Shows and, well, we'd have the LIsbon romance for real...

meanwhile, I just **_"write, draw, create, dream, hope and believe in Bruno, waiting for him to be blessed bu the light of reason..." _**(No, this discalimer isn't mine, it belongs to one fo the girls who wite Mentalist fiction on the italian site efpfiction, but don't tell me many of you don't share this vision...)

* * *

As both Teresa and Abby had predicted, at the time of the wedding Mrs. Jane was merely in the third week, meaning that at the time the exams come back positives she was already in the second moth. This thing was driving Teresa mad; looking at herself in the mirror, just in her underwear, she noticed how her breasts were already changing, becoming a bit bigger than usual: it was just a matter of time before Rigsby would notice it, thinking maybe again of plastic surgery, but only awakening Grace and Cho's inner alarms. At least, this time the morning sickness wasn't that bad, hitting just in the early hours of the day, when they were still at home. She wondered if it was a matter of how many times one got pregnant (note to self: ask to the 3 times pregnant Claire) and if it was going to be this way even in the next times.

Next times…smiling, Lisbon looked at her still flat pregnant tummy, imagining how this baby would look like, if it was going to be a baby girl just like her, like Jane had predicted, or maybe a copy of Lucas, just a bit younger…

For once, she hoped that Jane's instincts was right, she really wanted for them to have a baby daughter, preferably like her (even if, secretly, she wished for a mix again, dark hair and blue eyes). She knew Jane was ok with it, that he was ready to have a baby girl of his own again, but Teresa feared that a girl with blonde curls and cerulean eyes could be too much to handle for the man's soul, a too strong reminder of what he had lost, but, mostly, a reminder of the sense of guilt that suffocated him for so long.

If it has to be blonde, she'd preferred a baby boy, maybe, this time, just like his father, blue eyes and mesmerizing smile included, a boy doomed to become a prince charming for every female who could dare to put their eyes on him. Hell, was it the case, she was even going to allow Patrick to call Him PJ (yes, he had suggested, when she was pregnant with their firstborn, the name Patrick Jane Junior). Of course, PJ could wait. Not that she didn't want him or wanted him in the long run, she simply preferred the boy to be baby number 3. Or even 4, but 3, was 2 going to be a girl like Jane had guessed, could be perfect.

Damn the man and his idiotic idea of the football team, he had passed it to her, and now her only thought was a small army of kids, preferably blondes (females excluded, preferably, if it was going to be an issue for him), with their dad's gift (because Patrick may like to repeat that it's something one learns as much as he liked, but she'd never believe there was no natural predisposition as well).

"Da-da!" Baby number 1, laughing, clapped his tiny hands, deciding to give his full attention to his "da-da, as Patrick said his son liked to call him (he had heard the two syllables two days before, and claimed Lucas was saying dad); smiling, the baby boy tried to steal the nose of his still sleeping daddy, being unsuccessful.

"Da-da!" he repeated, still doing the gesture.

"Ehy, man, what are you doing here?" hearing his still asleep voice (a voice Teresa knew was associated with still closed eyes), laughing, she come back to bed, putting the sitting child against her chest. "I woke up, and I saw him busy trying to get all the bees of his carousel, and I decided to bring him here to keep us some company"

"Da-da!" he repeated, this time trying to playing with his dad's hair; Lucas was so small, that there was no way he could hurt Patrick by doing so.

"Ok Luc, I got it. you want dad to wake up, and dad will wake up – he sat in bed, facing Teresa, looking, he wasn't sure, if at the whole picture in front of him or simply at her; a serious expression crossed his still handsome features, as he took her hand in his own – Teresa, please, if you love me as you claim to, you'll not do that to me. I ask you with my heart in my hands; don't wear the red dress at the baptism."

After the initial scare, because he really seemed serious, she regained her composure, and, laughing and hitting him lightly ion the chest, ended with her back against his chest, in Luc's same position.

"What, scared that you'll not be able to resist me and that you'll end up getting me pregnant again?" she asked him laughing, sealing the last words with a kiss on his chin.

"I'll never get tired of having you pregnant, Tess" His voice is low, but not malicious or lusty, it's tender, as tender is the gesture of playing with her hair with one hand and with Luc's blonde curls with the other one.

"You're a caveman, Jane" she sarcastically told him, still laughing, her head completely buried in his naked chest (because, even if she was pregnant with their second child, they weren't getting rid of their sleeping habits, and he still wore the button, and she still wore the top of the male pajama)

"A pregnancy and a wedding ring are, under normal circumstances, indeed signals of possession, but it wasn't what I meant – he relaxed, breathing the unique scent that was his Teresa and the one that belonged to his son and his son only, because he knew that every baby smelt like no one else – I mean that I'd like to not have only Lucas and Juliet. I'd like to have at least 3 or 4 children, if you agree, of course."

"Mmm… a house full of blonde curls, it's so appealing…" she smiled in his chest, kissing it briefly.

"And here I thought you fall for me because of my uncanny personality. Teresa, I can't believe you could be so venial to love me just for my hot look!"

"Would you be mad if Juliet will look like Lily?" staying in the same position, she become serious, and didn't dare to look into his eyes, scared of the possibility of seeing sufferance in those blue orbs.

"Jeez woman, you seriously have a thing for blonde curls – as she hit him again when he started to humor her, inhaling deeply, Patrick leaned against the pillow more, getting more comfortable – I don't think I would mind"

He smiled of one of those smiles that, until few years ago, he thought he was no longer supposed to have. "When Juliet will be born, I'd like to start talking them about Lily. I still have her pictures, you know, and maybe one day, when they'll be old enough, I could bring them to their graves, if you don't mind, of course."

"Never, Patrick, never" she said, kissing his chin again just before to leave her spot to get ready for the twins' baptism.

Having the twin baptized meant that Patrick and Teresa found themselves for the third time in a couple of years in the small church again, Father Lucas' chapel; for the third time said man was the chosen priest, and for the third time it was about a baptism, only, it was an even smaller ceremony: Robert had been called back to Afghanistan with his unit and wasn't supposed to come back before 6 months, and Tommy, a DA in New York, had took an extremely important case he had to follow at any cost. Mick had asked Patrick to be the godfather of the children, and as a result, the blonde consultant ended with a Lisbon in miniature in his arms, Alexis, while her twin, Jason, Mick's exact copy, was currently held by his wife, (The other reasons Mick felt he had to ask Patrick was because the mentalist had told his brother in law about Claire being pregnant, resulting in Claire being extremely pleased when her husband told her he knew it before she could confess) wife who was currently wearing a grey dress instead of the so loved and lovely red one he had given her for their first date

"Seeing something you like?" she asked him at low voice, joking, almost a whisper, as she felt his eyes on her (she was right, saying that all her clothes talked to him).

"Just thinking" he scrolled his shoulders, like it was nothing, knowing too well that Teresa couldn't resist questioning him.

"You were thinking about us?"

He nodded, with a low and seductive voice he whispered again "I was blind and lost, and I didn't know it until I crossed paths with you. You are my road, my truth, my life, you, my love, are my everything -she blushed at this so honest and seductive statement, shivers running along her spine – you'll make a wonderful bride, when we'll get married here"

"Here, really?" her voice was excited, and a bit too high for the place they were in and the occasion they were currently attending.

"It fits, it's appropriate, after all, it was seeing you here with Tony that I understood that you were behind any doubts the one". Automatically, he got closer to her, forgetting, the both of them, of everyone and of everything, children in their arms included, the whole world no longer existed, it was just the two of them, and, closing her eyes, Teresa got ready for the incoming kiss.

"Care to join us? Is there anything you feel like sharing with your family, or will you have to kill us once we'll have discovered your secrets?" as a result of Mick's grinned outburst, both Teresa and Patrick (yes, even him, for once) felt incredibly embarrassed, while the man who dared to ruin their trip in Jane-world got an elbow in the kidney, gentle concession of his wife, who took her babies back, putting the almost 3 months old twins in their pram, while Teresa and Patrick regained possession of Lucas, who had been held by one Claire's brothers.

"Actually, yes – Teresa said as Patrick took her hand in his own, gently squeezing it gently – the fact is…"

"You are going to have another baby" all the eyes belonging to the adults turned to look at the owner of the so happy voice, just to fall on a kid whose name was…

"Annie?" Teresa asked her niece in disbelief, while Patrick was giggling proud, like the almost 8 years old was his own daughter.

"You keep having milk with those disgusting biscuits you normally hate, but couldn't get rid of when you were expecting Lucas. Besides, you refused coffee, and even tea, until uncle Patrick gave you that caffeine free liquid" She giggled, proud, as Jane kneed in front of her, ruffling her hair, hugging the little girl at the same time.

"This girl will make a great mentalist! May I take her as my pupil, pretty please with cherry on top? – still behaving like a 5 years old, holding Annie, he moved his gaze from her parents to Teresa – ehy, if it runs in the family and she took it from the Lisbon's, our children may become the greatest mentalists of ever!"

"Are you pregnant?" while asking excited, Claire clapped her hands, looking like a kid in candy land, her enthusiasm and the amount of tears of joy increasing when Teresa simply nodded "you are pregnant!"

"Aunt Tess, I may be too old for being you flower girl – Annie said a bit sad, just to grin a second later, doing one of Jane's tricks – but I'd not mind being one of the bridesmaids!"

"What?" they asked all focused on Annie.

"Uncle Patrick said that, was she going to have a baby again, he'd married her in a church"

"Is that true?" Claire said again, again clapped her hands, already preparing both wedding and baby shower.

""If Father Lucas approves, we'd like to renew our vows here" While saying so smiling, Teresa turned towards said man, whose answer was only a smile.

"And you, Annie – Patrick said while pointing at the girl, still on his knees – not only you'll be the bridesmaid, but you'll walk just before your aunt, with a very special role, because – he said while his blue eyes were shining in anticipation of the moment he was picturing in his head – you'll walk hand in hand with Lucas towards the aisle!" Saying so, even if Annie claimed to not be a child any longer, he lifted her in the air like she was a 5 years old again.


	20. 9 months all over again

From One-shot,. the story has been promoted to multi-chapter, although I'm not quite sure how many more you'll have; Many of you asked for a sequel, and so, I thought about giving a bit more of space to Annie and the marvelous Jisbon romace we're still waiting to see in "reality"...

As always, thanks to everyone who, with reviews, or putting me and the story on alert or on fav, gave me resons to go on with this story- and soprry for the delay, but work was too much to handle, time is what it is, so, I'm kind of sure that i'll get this story weekly 8also because my muse is abandoning me and I don't really know where I'm going to go with this one..)

Oh, yes, the damn disclaimer: seriosuly, do we really have to do it? Because, Jeez, if I'd own them, I'd not be here writing it, I'd be the writeer of a TV Shows and, well, we'd have the LIsbon romance for real...

meanwhile, I just **_"write, draw, create, dream, hope and believe in Bruno, waiting for him to be blessed bu the light of reason..." _**(No, this discalimer isn't mine, it belongs to one fo the girls who wite Mentalist fiction on the italian site efpfiction, but don't tell me many of you don't share this vision...)

* * *

_Month one_

Something was definitely up with her, and Teresa had a feeling she knew what it was. Of course, she remembered every word of the book Patrick had mentioned her, how many women didn't know they were pregnant for the first weeks, but somehow, maybe because she had been already pregnant and had got to know herself and her body… she knew she wasn't late, since her period was supposed to come in more than a week, and she knew that PMS symptoms were the same of a pregnancy in an early stage, but, looking at her reflex, she knew. Well, she wasn't exactly sure, but she had plenty of reasons to believe she was pregnant. Ok, maybe it wasn't exactly planned, but, since they wanted quite a big family, they hadn't played it safe either. She just… she didn't want to give Patrick false hopes, even if she was 99.5% sure of the positive result: first the test, then a check-out with Abby, then Patrick.

Closed in the bathroom of the CBI (making at test at home meant telling him, because there was no way he couldn't find it out) she looked at the watch, releasing the breath she was holding as she was that the 5 minutes were finally gone; she picked the stick with closed eyes, carefully opening them slowly, and, as soon as she saw the writing on the small screen, she forced herself to not giggle or scream for the happiness – she had to tell him in a nice and special way, like she had done with Lucas. Damn, too bad the wedding was the next day, or she could have told him while dancing…

_The next day…_

"Teresa, May I ask you a simple question?" he looked into her eyes, smiling happy, seeing that she was, instead, a bit frightened, unsecure, and he really didn't know why. Even if he was right, she didn't have to be scared, or, was she having second thoughts, or maybe, maybe, maybe…

"Patrick, I know how your mind works, and I know what the question is going to be, but, you see, the fact is… – she lowered her voice, not as scared as he thought she was, there was something else – I only did one of those do it yourself test, and… well, I'll not allow myself… - she corrected herself immediately – I'll not allow ourselves to believe it until I'll heard Abby saying so."

He took her in his arms, tightening his hold around her, and, slow dancing, started to whisper again to her. "I'll not mind if you'll want to get married with that beautiful big tummy of yours… of course, we can wait until she'll be born…"

"She" she simply stated looking into his eyes, looking quizzically at her husband with lifted eyebrows.

"Of course, Teresa, because, as I know you're really pregnant, and my question was just about how far you think we could be – he said with that idiotic 100 watts smile of his, pinching the tip of her nose like he did to Annie and Toni many times, and like he was going soon to do with his godchildren, Mick and Claire's twins Alexis and Jason – I know we are going to have a daughter!"

He couldn't know for sure that she was pregnant, or the gender of the baby yet. Ok, he had guessed the sex of both Lucas and of the twins, but it was luck, right? It wasn't like he was a real psych, he just was…

"You know Jane, sometimes I really hate you"

"Ehy, if this is the way you behave with the people you hate, what are you going to do with the ones you really love? -he joked, doing that same idiotic expression. – ah, the soccer team is coming…"

"The soccer team…. Do I want to know what you are talking about?"

_Month two_

"Did you ask for us?" as she walked into Hightower's office, Teresa was quite calm, since the last couple of years had seen the two women getting along quite well, demonstration that they could respect (and even like, to a certain level) each other.

"Is it because of the pregnancy? You said no matter what, we just had to talk with you and you were going to support us. Have you changed your mind or what?" Patrick hadn't been that rude in quite a long time, and hearing his outburst didn't exactly made Teresa blush or laugh; her only answers were eyes rolled and an elbow in his kidney.

"You've never hidden that you want a large family" Hightower said looking at Teresa in the eyes.

"I'm the oldest of a family of 4 children, and Patrick always hated being an only child. Yes, we want a big family, and yes, we've never hidden it. Is that a problem?" Awakening memories of the past (and the following desires in Patrick) Lisbon took the defensive posture she had often had to take with her boss in the past.

"Would you mind a better position, less danger, better hours and paycheck?"

"Oh, you want to promote me! I didn't even know that a civil consultant could be promoted!" he giggled proud.

"I was offering my job to your wife, Mr. Jane"

"Oh"

"You are leaving us?" Teresa was shocked, to be honest, it was quite a euphemism…

"I've been asked to lead major Crimes Division for the NYPD. My oldest daughter is attending Julliard, and, even if we'll not leave under the same roof, I'd feel better knowing that I could see her more than two times each year. And – she paused – I'd feel better knowing I left my people in good hands"

"If I promise to behave around Cho, and that I'll not drive him too mad, will you accept?" Patrick went on his knees, and, taken her hands in his ones, begged her with the puppy dog eyes, making her feel uncomfortable.

"Idiot – she told him, not even caring to whisper, just to turn to her boss before to remove her hands with force from his owns- yes"

_Month three_

"Patrick, I'm not trying to seduce you."

"Allow me to disagree, since you are using my naked chest as a pillow"

"I always use your naked chest as a pillow, since you always sleep whit your chest naked. Besides, even if you didn't, I'd use you naked chest as pillow right now because I did seduce you. Even if I'm not sure you can say that you've been seduced, when it's your wife doing the seducing"

"I'd say yes, but, in our case, I'm not sure. You, more like seducing, you… violate and abuse me. I mean, look at what you do, you literally jump on me, making my clothes in pieces, you force me on our living room's carpet… do you know that I'll never be able to look at this carpet in the same way?"

"Sure, because you'll daydream about me here every time your eyes will meet it. Besides – she said kissing his jaw - I didn't you hear complaining"

"My shirt did, though."

"You just lost a couple of buttons. Tomorrow morning, before to go to work, your shirt will be as good as new, but first…"

"Yes, my dear?" He grinned with a knowing look while his hands wondered under the covers, along the curves of her body that was already showing a bit.

"Is round two already likely?"

"Teresa, my dear, you should have more faith in your abilities..."

"Is that so?" she asked him amused, while he started to kiss her neck, tickling her stomach at the same time.

"Yeah, you are a great performer, but I'd love you even more if you could promise me to leave my couch alone this time..."

"I'm not sure I can do this promise – a kiss – after, if I'll be able to resist you is your concern – another one – it's not my fault if I find you so – another kiss – handsome… charming… sexy… intriguing… smart… funny… and desirable…"

"Compliment me like this and I'll allow you to get rid of our clothes wherever you want"

"Deal" she answered, sealing the promise with a passionate kiss, thinking how easy it was to convince him to do as she wished.

"I knew you were trying to seduce me- he said serious, low and sexy voice, while his blue eyes were trapped into her green ones – you know, I just remembered a certain CBI agent once promised her handsome… charming… sexy… intriguing… smart… funny… and desirable… consultant she'd allow him to handcuff her divine naked body to their bed…"

"Well, first – she said seductively while drawing invisible patterns on his chest with her nails- I'm not sure the consultant could make it to their bedroom, and second, the agent always follows rules, and it'd be improper use of a federal property…"

"Well, that consultant WANTS to make it to their bedroom, and, since he is incredibly persuasive…" Deciding it was time to get rid of that mental image, he lifted Teresa in his arms, waling her towards their bedroom, like the perfect caveman he could be…

_Month four_

"C'mon pal, say hi to your sister! – as Teresa laid in the bed with her stomach exposed and the cold liquid covering it to allow the ultrasound, Patrick giggled, his son on his knees, not caring if he was only one year old and maybe didn't understood it at all; he was their son, and they wanted to share this joy with him as well – c'mon, Luc, do it for daddy, say hi to Jules! Look as I do it!" he said showing his closed and then open hands, the children's way of saying hello with their hands.

"Still waiting for the day he'll be wrong?" Abby Kovatch had been promoted, not by their doctor, but by them. After going through the birth with her, they've decided to keep this woman as their doctor, hoping that, this time, she'd be available, differently from her mentor last time.

"I'm not sure I'll live long enough to see that day"

"You two hurt my feelings. Everybody knows I'm always right!" he faked disappointment, result in Luc's giggling, like the little boy could understand what was going on.

"It seems the day has come, Teresa – Abby paused, smiling, turning the monitor towards them – I'd suggest to give a look"

"Wow, I didn't see that coming" Patrick was pale and confused (while Luc kept giggling and clapping his hands).

"I didn't want to know the sex! – Teresa was mad, mad beyond reason, she really didn't want to know it this time as well, and then… then she turned to look at Patrick, who was pale and in silence, and she got scared – what's wrong with my baby?"

"Babies – he just said, bubbling the word a bit, paler and paler, collapsed in his chair – PJ is keeping company to Jules"

"What do you mean with PJ?"

"Twins, you are expecting twins." He said in shock.

"I got it the first time you said babies. My question was if you were crazy or what, because there's no way I'm allowing you to call our son Patrick Michael Jane Junior- PJ for short, quoting you."

"Luc agrees!" he said, faking again disappointment, since the baby boy was clapping his hands happy, pointing at the screen like it was the TV from home.

"We don't know if we'll have a boy and a girl – she said laughing, caressing the baby's blonde curls- you didn't even knew we were having twins until 5 seconds ago"

"Maybe I wanted to see your expression when you'd found it out. After all, I'm a great performer. How can you be so sure I didn't know it?"

"You know, sometimes I wonder why I married you…" as she said so in amusement, while Luc kept clapping in direction of the screen, they kissed.

_Month five_

"So, as you already know, I'm pregnant" Teresa was sitting on the sofa, all her family and friends gathered around her for the celebration of Luc's first birthday. She was a bit worried, but Jane's hand in her own was calming her down.

"There is a couple we'd like to share with you all, though" he ended the sentence for her, looking into her eyes, not daring to look at everybody else.

"You're having twins, I knew it! Wayne, pay!" Wow, Cho excited about getting money from Rigsby? It was really weird, even weirder than that fact that he knew they were having twins… wait a sec, Cho was sitting in his usual ice-man attire in front of them… who the hell…

"Mick!" Teresa put her hands on her hips, furious. How did he dare to do something like this?

"Ehy, it's not my fault if the guy always loses!"

"See, dad, I told you that it was a sure bet, you couldn't sloe this one!" Annie said with an expression that remembered to Teresa Jane's pones. The girl was spending a way too much time with her uncle, and it wasn't safe. He was turning her into… well, there was a reason he called her "mini-me".

"Yes, I'm having twins, but what I wanted to tell you was…" she started, even if exasperation was clear in her voice. Mick, Jayne and Anne gathered against her… it wasn't healthy!

"She'll take over Hightower's position starting after maternity leave!"

"Jane, I wanted to tell them!"

"What's mine is yours, what's yours is mine, and your news is mine as well – he paused and turned to look at the others – and we'd like to tell you all, with the exception of Mick and Claire and Annie and Tony who already know, that… - he paused again – first door at the left of the stairs.- As he said so, Teresa send him a questioning glare, and in tat second, Grace left in a hurry the room, going into the room Patrick had indicated her (the bathroom), like his words had triggered something, or like he knew it – Wayne, I think you should know I'll not allow your son near Jules"

"Well, you can bet I'll never leave Stacy near Lucas or..."

"PJ, it is Patrick Junior, while your son would be?"

"Scott"

"Well, Scott will never date Jules!"

"Grace's pregnant? – Teresa asked in disbelief, gaining as answer Wayne's uncomfortable nod, and, as soon Grace Come back, the future head of the CBI reacted as Claire once had – you're pregnant! We'll be pregnant together! We'll go shopping for and with the babies! You're still come to the wedding, right?"

"You and Jane are getting married again, that's wonderful!"

"January the 8th!"

"Of course I'll come!"

"My god, we could become in laws one day!"

"Scott will not touch my Juliet!"

"And neither PJ nor Lucas will touch my Stacy!"

_Month 6_

"Twins, I still can't believe it, it's just so unreal..." she said, laid in the back, while casually playing with his curls.

"I'm really getting old – he grinned, smiling against the skin of Teresa's neck as he come back on his side, looking at her – if, one year ago, I'd kissed your neck just like I did, you'd be whispering "Patrick" begging me to go further…"

"I can't believe I'm going to marry you in the holy bound of marriage" she whispered half serious, lifting her eyebrows a little while kissing his chin and drawings invisible lines on his naked chest.

"You know you love me" he whispers with that tone full of humor; lost in the sight of Patrick in bed near her, looking at the now prominent belly, Teresa took a big breath, thinking how much he was enjoying that, being married, and being a father, something she'd never thought possible. For a long part of their knowledge, she had really though Patrick Jane was a man broken behind repair, never she thought he could have been able to find happiness again (especially not with her, it was a thought she had dismissed even for her dreams).

"Are you never sick of being so full of yourself?" she asked him jokingly, her words broken by her laughter, since he had decided to tickle her again.

"Nah, I'm kind of in love with myself as well, do you know? And since you broke my poor heart and I'm quite cold, I think I'll have to ask for my shirt back…"

"Forget it, Blondie; you'll have to take it off form me with the brute force" she said suggestively, still laughing because he wasn't giving up the torture (and she wondered how Lucas could sleep, just in the next room, with her laughing that much)

"Glad to oblige, woman!"

_Month seven_

"Are you two having fun?" Teresa asked once she walked inside the kitchen, where Wayne and Patrick were sitting drinking beer and sharing stories about their pregnant wives, in a manner similar to the time Patrick found himself talking with Mick what seemed a long time ago.

"I was wondering, Grace and I would like to ask you for Lucas for the weekend. She'd like to have a kid at home for a couple of days, said I have to make practice, and you'll have a couple of days on your own before the twins' birth…"

"Oh, please, like she'd wait for our son to be away to jump on me…"

"Jane!" she cried getting redder and redder in face, whishing again, after a long time, to disappear.

"Ok, you know what? I so don't need to know this about you and the boss! – Wayne, defeated hands in surrounding, left his spot, and, jacket again on, was about to leave from the backdoor, when he stopped and turned to face Jane – and, by the way, I used to watch The Guardian, and you so are Simon baker's twin!"

He quickly went away, closing the door at his back; once outside, he heard just 3 noises: something of glass or porcelain hitting the door he just used, "Jane" cried with his boss' voice, and something else breaking, this time, it seemed, in direction of Jane…

_Month eight_

"Do you think we should call it off? I mean, look at me, I'm huge…" she said at crossed arms, extremely exasperated, in the half-obscurity of their bedroom. The night talk while pregnant was definitely something Teresa loved so much, and the poor man, no longer suffering from insomnia, had to walk as a living dead all day long because she kept him awake to talk, talk and talk again…

"Teresa, I know you preferred with Lucas, when you barely showed, but, please, you're not huge, believe me. You look like someone who's giving birth to a baby, like in one…"

"A giant baby with two heads, you mean" she hissed, giving him her back. Oh, lord. Hormones were back in action…

"Our babies don't have two heads, they are going to have two distinct body, ok?- he messed with her hair like he did with Annie, and Teresa was getting really annoyed with him; her patience was at the limit, and he kept behaving like a child, or, when he wasn't, he was acting like she was the actual baby… - now, come back to sleep, and remember that in a month time Mick will walk towards me in a church, like you've always wanted, ok?"

_Month nine_

"Are you excited? Because I am!" he said as a kid, that light of amusement, pure amusement, there. Teresa froze for an instant; the man was really unbelievable, he behaved as he was going to play one of his antics to chase a criminal or something like that. A part of her, sometimes, wondered why she'd managed to last that long with a man like that… besides the uncanny love she had for him (and the fact that she secretly enjoyed how much he adored and worshipped her). He took a big breath, kissed her tummy and gently tapped over her skin, like to make the children aware of the presence of their father.

"It's just renewing our vows, Patrick. We're already married" she said with her carefree attitude (an attitude she had for him and him only, and only when they were both calm and quiet like that), playing with his curls. It was an habit she had took while expecting Lucas; it was true she had done that simple action before, when they were dating or when they were together, but it was different; first, it was, well, quite a thing of lust, but now it was somehow reassuring; there were days when she woke up in the middle of the night, and looked for him in their bed, wondering if it had been a dream or if it was real…

"I'm hurt, you know. You should be excited, getting married to me again…"

"Patrick Jane, modesty is your middle name!" she joked lightly, giving a quick kiss to his head. She'd always enjoyed the way he smelled (not the first aftershave, though; that one, the one he couldn't' find, had met the bin because she couldn't stand the smell of it).

"Actually, Michael is my middle name"

"Patrick?" she whispered sweetly, inhaling a bit more of his scent, taking everything in.

"Yes love of my life?"

"I'm not going to show you the dress – she said with a sweet tone, but still joking and having fun (unbelievable, Patrick Jane bran joy in her life! She was sure that, had she managed to time-travel back of few years, her younger self wasn't going to believe her)- also because, knowing you, you've already managed to spot it somehow"

"Maybe, maybe not"

"You're unbelievable" she said, faking annoyance, remembering the time she had told him the very same thing, years ago, when he was making his injuries look like they were worse to convince her to look after him, making her smile at the memory, remembering the time she realized she was really in love with him and wanted it to last.

"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure that's the reason you love me, right? – he smiled at her, and, then, kissed again the belly, massaging it, looking at her like he was worshipping this woman and the children she was carrying – Good night Jules – he gave another kiss, another adoring look – Good Night PJ – and then he kissed her, on the lips, a quick kiss, the ones she had always loved – good night Mrs. Jane"

"Are you sure you don't want to sleep here? – she said taking him for the collar – I'd not mind, really"

"The groom and the bride can't share the same house the night before to get married, and I'm going to maintain this tradition – he said quietly and seductively (Teresa didn't know why, but everything this man did, it screamed sexy…) – I'll see you tomorrow. I'll be the one waiting for you at the aisle…. And you two.. – he said giving a last kiss to the babies, ready to go to say hi to Lucas in his room - I'll see you in 3 weeks."


	21. Broken

From One-shot,. the story has been promoted to multi-chapter, although I'm not quite sure how many more you'll have; Many of you asked for a sequel, and so, I thought about giving a bit more of space to Annie and the marvelous Jisbon romace we're still waiting to see in "reality"...

As always, thanks to everyone who, with reviews, or putting me and the story on alert or on fav, gave me resons to go on with this story- and soprry for the delay, but work was too much to handle, time is what it is, so, I'm kind of sure that i'll get this story weekly 8also because my muse is abandoning me and I don't really know where I'm going to go with this one..)

Oh, yes, the damn disclaimer: seriosuly, do we really have to do it? Because, Jeez, if I'd own them, I'd not be here writing it, I'd be the writeer of a TV Shows and, well, we'd have the LIsbon romance for real...

meanwhile, I just **_"write, draw, create, dream, hope and believe in Bruno, waiting for him to be blessed bu the light of reason..." _**(No, this discalimer isn't mine, it belongs to one fo the girls who wite Mentalist fiction on the italian site efpfiction, but don't tell me many of you don't share this vision...)

* * *

Behind any prevision, her marriage was working, even if the first time she met him she thought Patrick was the worst thing it could happen to a woman and was behind repair; there were arguments, that was for sure, and the first moths after Lucas' birth had been hard for them, with Patrick being so scared he was going to fail them, but, mostly, when they argued, they argued about work related issues. So, the day she was going to get married to him again, in a proper way, while getting ready with Grace's help in the canonic, she knew it was going to work, that all the 5 of them were going to make them.

After all, what could go wrong? everything was perfect; she was getting married with Patrick in a church, like she had always wanted, she was wearing a long white dress that made her feel like the most beautiful woman of the planet even if she was 8 months and 1 week pregnant with twins, she had her something new (the dress), something blue (her lingerie), something old (her mother's crux), something borrowed (Grace's long earrings with small emeralds), the organ was playing the classical wedding music, the flowers were everywhere and were perfects, and the place was full of friends, family and people they knew.

"Sometimes I wonder how Jane managed to not jump on you sooner – Grace told her while giving the last touches to the soft curls – although it seems that he can any longer keeps his hands off of you"

"Or maybe it's the other way around – she joked lightly, just to turn to look at her coworker/friend – sometimes I wonder why he choose me, of all the women he could get, it's still so…"

"Patrick's gotten into a fight!"

Teresa was supposed to walk at him any minute, but Patrick still felt nervous, like she could actually walk away (they were already married, and she was pregnant with her second and third child), she had even been the one to ask for it, so he really didn't have to be worried.

Suddenly, as a shadow in the back of the church took his attention, he froze.

"Jane, are you ok?" As he saw Patrick's eyes, dark and void, Wayne got worried, worried and confused, there was something that… that scared him a little.

"I'll be back in a minute" almost running, Patrick followed the shadow, with something in his eyes that could be described only as rage. He wondered why and why the person was there, and he was so lost in his thoughts he even didn't noticed Claire running after him with Lucas in her arms.

"What the hell do you think you are doing here?" he shouted as he grabbed the man for the shoulders, forcing him to turn so they could be face to face; right then, he didn't care of he wasn't being respectful, he didn't care where he was. He was blind. Claire, seeing the man now facing her as well, froze; maybe they weren't the same, but the traits were there.

"C'mon pat, don't you think you should be nicer with your old man?"

Claire was scared and worried. The man was really Patrick's father, so; and they didn't even know he was still alive… he had never talked about his family like Teresa as well, not with them, at least, so they all assumed he was an orphan.

"Patrick?" she asked gripping the baby in her arms, with the feeling a storm was coming.

"Claire, go. I'll get rid of him and I'll be back"

"Claire, so this isn't your wife to be. I heard her name's Teresa, right? I hope she is not your mistress, it would be rather inappropriate, bringing her to your own wedding…"

"I'd never cheat on my wife; I'm not some bastard who buys people's trust"

"Yeah, well, Son, I remember someone paying the role of the fake psych quite willingly"

"And – Patrick answered with venom – I remember a man convincing a dying girl he could heal her just because she was rich, I remember his son not agreeing, I remember the boy moving away as soon s he could, and I remember you not giving a damn about me until now!"

"Wonna daddy" Lucas said, holding his aunt's hands with all the force his small hands had, quite scared.

"Oh, Patrick, I think a father could go to his son's wedding when he learns of it..."

"You've never been a father to me in the first place, so drop the act and tell me what you are after. Is it money? Tell me how much you want and disappear!"

"Patrick, what a hypocrite you are. You shouldn't behave this way with me, you know? You may have escaped from the carnival, but you never run away from who you were. A part of me is so proud of you, of how you manipulated people; how you claimed to be a psych… and the number you did with that serial killer, Red John! Tell me, Patrick have you ever thought that you'd never met Teresa, if not for me?"

"I'm serious, go away" he said trying to fight the urge to fight.

"Of course, she is nothing like your first wife, I'm sure; the woman was stunning, and this one is just a detective, she can't be that good. I wonder why you settled down for her, considering that you could trick any woman you wanted in your bed... you know, I remember a newspaper saying you'd been spotted with Kristina Frey, the psych. You should have stayed with her; you'd made money like no one before you in the ring…"

Without caring to reply, he jumped in his father, and started to wrestle with him on the floor, and not even Lucas' desperate cry seemed able to stop him from fighting with his own father.

"Patrick's gotten into a fight!"

Teresa's thought had been suddenly stopped by Claire's arrival; her sister in law was dressed with same fluffy violet dress Grace had on, but was clearly in shock and scared… and her baby boy, Teresa's 16 months baby boy, was as well; in his aunt's arms, Lucas was crying desperate.

"Did he do it? Did he get scared of the fight?" mad beyond reason with Patrick, Teresa stood, regaining all her strength, and run in direction of where the voices come from; once she saw what was going on, she froze, and understood why Claire seemed in shock; with a broken voice and her hands shaking, she did the only thing she could think of.

"JANE!" As she cried with rage and fury, all the attendants turn turned to see what was going on and Minelli and Hightower even decided to approach the scene.

Slowly, Teresa reopened her eyes, and looked at the scene; Patrick was taking for the collar the man he had previously been fighting with, and said man was grinning, standing the both of them still, both their eyes focused on the woman, although in different manner, since all she could understand for her husband's eyes was a simple word: sorry.

"I seriously hope that neither of you all has something to do with him being here" he said at his wife's address, even if he knew she hadn't done it- but he couldn't be that sure for their co-workers, he was pretty sure that was Grace's idea of wedding present, after all, so romantic she was, he could definitely see her whishing for a family reunion.

"Oh, the bride, so this is Teresa. I see she is pregnant, tell me Patrick, are you marring her because you knocked her out and she didn't want to get rid of it? Don't tell me you've decided to grown up and be responsible…"

As the man said so, Patrick tried to hit again, but Teresa stopped her husband just in time, getting in his way; Patrick was so mad, he wasn't even noticing his son crying for him. "Claire, bring Lucas away, I don't want him to see Patrick this way. And you – she said pointing at her husband – you better have a good reason for your behavior, because this is too much even for you!"

"Just, please, tell me he found out on his own, that it wasn't you all…"

"Patrick, I've never met this man before, I don't even know who he is!"

"Steve Jane, miss… Lisbon. I'm your father in law to be"

"Don't you dare to use that word? You've never been a father to me!"

"You may not like it, but I am your father, and you, son, you are your father's son." As he said so, he laughed, like making fun of the son he really never gave too much about if it wasn't concerning money, and Patrick hit him again, stronger, harder. His "father" didn't know him, he didn't know Lily and her mother, he didn't know Teresa or Lucas, and he wasn't going to know the twins. He had no right, he had absolutely no right.

So caught in the fight, Patrick didn't saw what was going on around him, not until Minelli and Wayne stopped him with the force.

"Let it go of me, he has to learn…"

"Jane, damn, enough of this, Teresa needs you!" Patrick looked in his old boss' eyes, and saw what he registered in his voice: fear, pain, rage, sufferance… so he stopped, and he turned to see what was going on. On the floor, in fetal position, there was Teresa, in a pool of blood, of her own blood, blood coming from her intimate area. Running to her side, he took her hand in his own, knowing that it wasn't suppose to go this way, and that it was too early for the twins to be born… it wasn't right, and it was all his fault.


	22. What matters, what makes me happy

From One-shot,. the story has been promoted to multi-chapter, although I'm not quite sure how many more you'll have; Many of you asked for a sequel, and so, I thought about giving a bit more of space to Annie and the marvelous Jisbon romace we're still waiting to see in "reality"...As always, thanks to everyone who, with reviews, or putting me and the story on alert or on fav, gave me resons to go on with this story- and soprry for the delay, but work was too much to handle, tand i had few problems at home as well. 8actually, I just come back from the hospital, where I spoent the night watching over my granpa, and I'm kind of working on sleep privation..)

Oh, yes, the damn disclaimer: seriosuly, do we really have to do it? Because, Jeez, if I'd own them, I'd not be here writing it, I'd be the writeer of a TV Shows and, well, we'd have the LIsbon romance for real...meanwhile, I just **_"write, draw, create, dream, hope and believe in Bruno, waiting for him to be blessed bu the light of reason..." _**(No, this discalimer isn't mine, it belongs to one fo the girls who wite Mentalist fiction on the italian site efpfiction, but don't tell me many of you don't share this vision...)

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It wasn't happening; one of the best days of his life wasn't turning into his new personal hell. No, no way, it wasn't right, it wasn't supposed to go this way. He wasn't supposed to seat outside surgery waiting for Abby to tell him if Teresa and the twins were going make it. He could see the fear on Mick and Tommy, and Robert's rage. The former marine seemed close to hit someone (he had already hit his something, a wall, several times). Grace and Claire were at Mick's, with the children; when they had to bring Lucas away, he was still crying for his mummy and his daddy, and Annie and Tony were both in shock; the poor girl was so pale and scared, but she hadn't cried. Rigsby and Cho, instead, had taken upon themselves a special task…

"We suggested him to leave Sacramento in the next 24 hours and to not bother you again. He was after your money, seems he hoped you could decided to come back to your old fake psych days" Even if his voice was the same, Jane knew Cho, and knew that, like Wayne and Grace, they saw Teresa not like just a boss, but a member of the family as well. As Rigsby sat at his side and put an arm around his shoulders, Patrick did something he hadn't done in a long time. He cried, out of desperation, out of fear, like a broken child; he didn't give a damn about anything, he knew even that Teresa was a strong believer, but he didn't care. If God existed, if God really existed, he didn't have to take her away from him. Was he that bad as a person that he deserved to lose two families? What about Lucas? He was only a child, he needed his mum, and her friends, all the people she could still help… he didn't care if Heaven needed another Angel. They all needed her there, still.

After hours, finally, Abby and her husband, a surgeon called Luka, approached them, and the only thing Patrick could see was the blood on their clothes… there was so much blood, and Teresa was so petite…

"Mr. Jane, I'm Dr. Luka Kovatch. I wanted to inform you – he said with a hint of a smile - that your wife is sleeping in her room. The twins…"

"Juliet and Patrick are fine, but we preferred to put them in an incubator for a couple of days – squeezing his shoulder gently, Abby faced Patrick, trying to reassure him – c section at this stage of a twin pregnancies are rather usual, Patrick. It's not abnormal; we just wanted to make sure they'll be all right."

"Mr. Jane, bleeding is normal, you knew it, right? It just always look worst than what it really is."

"C'mon Patrick, you'll even be able to have that forth child you two talked about so much – she kept smiling at him – maybe your little outburst scared her enough to detonate the birthing, but it wasn't you. If not in church, her water was going to break maybe in the evening"

"May I..." he asked tentatively, without daring nor to end the sentence, nor to look at Abby's face; the woman decided to answer him with an action, and, took him for his shoulders, he guided Patrick inside the nursery, where, inside the incubators, lied two small, perfect, healthy and extremely active and crying newborns twins. As he cried out of relief, he finally registered the information the doctor gave him earlier: Patrick and Juliet, soon to be known as PJ and Jules, a blonde boy with blue eyes and a raven-haired girl with green eyes, his daughter and his son were in front of him, alive and well, busy crying.

"Thanks – he whispered, without breaking eye contact with them, skimming over the glass surface that was hiding them from the world – for remembering how we had decided to call them, I mean."

"Believe me, forgetting you and Teresa it's impossible – she said smiling, looking at the twins like she had done with her child few years prior, captivated, every time, by the sight of new life coming into the world - Teresa's resting in a private room . I could ask the staff to arrange a bed for you, if you want to spend the night at her side."

He wanted, and he did; he spent the night at her side, awake, holding her hand, checking that she was with them for real, that he hadn't lost her as well. Come morning, he smiled a bit, that kind of smile that was mixed with tears of relief, and, given her a quick kiss on the forehead, he thanked Lily and her mum, and Teresa's mother, Susan, for having look after her.

"You didn't shave- she whispered, feeling already the two days beard, something she wasn't used to, on her skin. Patrick smiled, holding her hand stronger, kissing her fingers like he had done so many times in the past; her other hand went immediately to her abdomen, and Teresa panicked as she felt the lack of something – the twins… Patrick… I…"

He sat at her side, on the bed, and took her in his arms, circling her shoulders with his arm and kissing her hair to reassure her "They are fine, Teresa. PJ and Jules are fine. They are keeping them inside the incubators for precaution, but Abby said it's just a matter of a couple days before they'll bring them here. – He paused, a bit, breathing deeply, at closed eyes – they had to perform a C section, though, but Abby said it's not unusual. She said we could even try for another baby, one day."

Teresa rested her head in his dress shirt, the same shirt he had wore for the wedding, their wedding, the one that didn't take place, and noticed how, even if mixed with hospital smell, he was still himself, that cologne she didn't recognize, that unique combination that was Patrick.

"You know, this thing helped me to realize what's really important; I've been childish and stupid with this idea of the big white wedding; our ceremony had been perfect, it had everything I could ask for… I don't want it any different…"

"If it's the religious wedding you want, Teresa, I'll give it to you. Maybe a little ceremony, on our anniversary, when we'll baptize the twins…" he whispered into her ear, as his heartbeat calmed her down, slowly allowing Teresa to fall asleep again.

"I've never asked you if you are happy with me…" he whispered, more to himself, and was a bit shocked when she actually answered him, a playful smile on her lips.

"I've always been happy with you, Patrick, and only being home with our children will make it even better." Smiling a smile of his own, he closed the gap between them, pressing a soft but quick kiss on her lips- the kind they've always shared and loved, that were screaming one word and one word only: **_love_**.

In that moment, Teresa realized something she had never really thought about since the day they met; it wasn't only that Patrick had changed her life; it was HOW he had actually changed it. He had brought out her playful side, he had made her a bit more reckless, less straight, more open and willing to share, and, mostly, he had brought fun (because, even if he was always in some kind of trouble, he was, indeed, a funny man- that was one of the reasons he was simply great with children) and the need of a sense of family she had lost the day her mother died. In a certain sense, Patrick Jane, her husband, was her drug, her favorite brand of heroin. She was addicted to the man, always been, really, but getting together had made things, in a certain sense, worse. She couldn't picture her life without him, couldn't understand how she could have lived so long without him being her man, without kissing him, touching him, making love to him, cooking together, sharing everything with him, without cuddling at his side, being the mother of his children. Yes, she was addicted to Patrick Jane.

And that was an addiction she had no intention of getting rid of.

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o, so sorry to tell you this, but I'0ve finally found a way to end this story, and so.. next chapter will be the epilogue- and this time the real one!


	23. Epilogue

Oh, yes, the damn disclaimer: seriosuly, do we really have to do it? Because, Jeez, if I'd own them, I'd not be here writing it, I'd be the writeer of a TV Shows and, well, we'd have the LIsbon romance for real...meanwhile, I just **_"write, draw, create, dream, hope and believe in Bruno, waiting for him to be blessed bu the light of reason..." _**(No, this discalimer isn't mine, it belongs to one fo the girls who wite Mentalist fiction on the italian site efpfiction, but don't tell me many of you don't share this vision...)

* * *

Epilogue

"So, I've been told you're moving out next week..." in the kitchen, PJ was finishing the last touches to his "poulet au vin", a recipe his dad had thought him before he moved on his own in order to impress ladies ("when I told your mother seducing a woman over a meal was sophomoric I was lying, but don't tell her that"), and impress his girlfriend was what he had in mind; at 22, Patrick Michel Jane Junior was the copy of his father, charming like no one but as sensitive as his mother.

"Yeah, Scott's moving in with Jules. Dad keeps saying the two of them eloped during spring break in Vegas, but they deny it. Although, I have to say, Jules is always as red as a tomato – he smirked, remembering how his dad always joked about the fact that it was something the girl had taken from her mother- when dad brings this in the open. My guess is that they don't have the balls to admit it, but give them a year, and as soon as she'll get pregnant, they'll have to tell us the whole truth"

PJ served his almost 8 months girlfriend and smirked at her: the brown-head Katherine Brenda Flynn was, like him, a "daughter of the law", having as parents two detectives. He wasn't sure yet if it was going to last, but he was pretty positive they were both in for the long run (also because his dad had told him so less than a week before), besides, he liked her. And a lot.

"And you're not bothered by that?" she asked curios; that was something he liked about her, how curious of everything she was, like him and his siblings; he wondered if it was because they both come from families of detectives.

"Scott's the son of our parents' best friends. We knew him since we were 3 months old, we practically grown up together. The day dad saw Scott, he said he was going to marry Jules, and when they got together at 15, he looked at mum with his "I told you so" smile- he paused, smiling at her – it's not that weird, thinking about the two of them together. I mean, we knew it was going to happen, eventually. I'm just pissed off that I'll have to move inside the campus"

"Your dad knew it?" PJ smiled as he saw Kat's expression- he knew it was supposed to be something between a question and affirmation; it wasn't unusual when people referred to his dad. His dad was right: he could see himself with this girl, definitely.

"I'm not sure, I've never heard of him being wrong my whole life– he said as he left for a minute the table, excusing himself, moving to his room to take a couple of books; once come back, he mot so he could be at her side and not in front of her like before- Kat, meet my family"

Kat skimmed over the picture he was showing her, two newborns in a hospital room with a few years old baby and a blonde man and a dark haired woman. "Are those two you and Jules?"

"Yeah, we were, I think, something like 24 hours old. That's my brother Lucas in the picture with us, and, obviously, our parents"

"Wow, you are your dad's carbon copy… your brother looked a lot like you as well- she laughed, trying to conceal her thoughts from PJ, but as soon as he gave her the look, she had to confess him – do you think you'll be as fascinating as him when you'll be as old as he was here?"

PJ just laughed, and moved to show her other pictures, this time of 4 babies, where their eyes and hair were well visible "mostly, the males took after dad, and the girls after mum, even if Luc has mum's eyes, while Isabelle – he said indicating a newborn with a 5 years old Lucas and the 3 and a half years old twins – is the opposite"

"Is that a birthday picture?" she turned the page, and immediately saw a picture of happiness, with a cake and many people gathered around a table; looking at it, PJ explained who the people in the picture were, indicating them one by one as he spoke.

"That's Lucas' fifth birthday. There are the four of us, our parents, mum's brothers, aunt Claire and her children, Uncle Cho and aunt Elise, and uncle Wayne with aunt Grace with Scott – he paused a little, massaging his neck as he was slightly embarrassed – Cho, Wayne and Grace aren't really related to us, but we have seen them every day of our life, they worked with our parents for years, they are like family to us"

"She is so beautiful, breathtaking - While skimming over an old photo, Kat was stunned, as the baby she was seeing was the most amazing creature she had ever seen, practically perfect, like an angel; PJ looked at it, almost crying, skimming over it like it was some kind of treasure, releasing a breath he didn't know he was keeping – that's Lily, my older sister, half sister, actually"

"Are you two not close? It's the only picture of her, and you've never mentioned her…" PJ bite his lips; it was true, he had never mentioned Lily before with Kat, but not because he didn't want to. Talking about Lily was something he had to feel to do, and the right moment had never come. Hell, he wasn't sure it was the right moment, he hadn't intended to talk about her, but he had forgotten that the picture was in that album in particular…

"She should have been 33 next month… lord, she wasn't even five years old… – he said skimming again on the close image of a child, few years old, blonde curls and blue eyes; a small tear left his eyes, but he immediately recompose himself, another trait inherited from his father, but Kat had seen enough and had understood what he meant – we have one picture of her, each one of us, while dad has all the others. – he paused, smiling a little, gazing over the photo again – I've always thought that we've been lucky, to not a have a sister with blonde curls and blue eyes. Dad always said it didn't matter, but I know he'd be heartbroken."

"What are you thinking about?" she asked him after a few minutes of silence, her hand on his own, still skimming over Lily Jane.

"My parents… they know each other from 31 years, and are married from 25. If not for Lily and her mother's murder, they'd never met. Mum was leading the investigations, and dad, well, he felt guilty, and decided to offer his help. If not for their deaths, they'd never met. As teens, we've been troubled by this, thinking that had dad not lost his fist family, he'd never met our mum. But, I don't know, at certain point we started to think, maybe they guided dad to mum? You see, mum's catholic, and kept saying that Lily and her mum were watching over us, like our guardian angel…" he took a sip of the red wine, looking a bit lost, until Kat broke the silence, talking about something she had never admitted at loud.

"My father is mum's third husband. She divorced Don, the second, but Noah, the first one, died on duty when she was barely 25. When it happened, she left Chicago for Los Angeles, and met dad. You know, at the time she was a forensic investigator while he worked at Robbery and homicide, and she often ended working with him. – she laughed, thinking about how her parents used to behave around each other while at work, something she had seen not so often, since her dad retired when she wasn't even 10 – dad's 20 years older than her, and at the time mum couldn't stand him"

"And how did they get together, then?"

"Mum had moved to New York, and dad and his boss were there, working on a double jurisdiction case, the same case mum happened to work on. When they solved the case, dad's boss offered her a position back in Los Angeles, and she accepted"

She grinned maliciously, and PJ lifted his eyebrows, looking suspiciously at her. "I still don't see how they ended up together, thought…"

"Well, not that I'm supposed to know that, but apparently, when dad's best friend married my grandmother, they had a one night stand"

"And here I thought my family was weird."

"Yeah, well, few months later, mum ended in the hospital, with a bullet in her abdomen, and while at her side, dad understood he was in love with her. Moral of the story: after 12 years of flirting and bickering because dad was all instincts and mum all evidences, they finally got together, and within the year I was born."

"Grace says the same about my parents as well. Apparently, they flirted and bickered like an old married couple since they met. Mum was the head of her unit, always with the rules, while dad, a former fake psych, was always following his guts and using weird methods. He never listened to what his bosses told him, especially if it was mum doing the talking. I think she lost count if the times he hypnotized people without her allowing him to."

"Your dad was a fake psych who hypnotized people?" he so loved her half-questions, half affirmations…

"Yeah, dad's a mentalist, and mum says we all took a bit after him. Apparently, it runs in the family – he laughed again, thinking about all the times his mother didn't talk with his dad because he had made something stupid or pulled a stunt while working on a case – she says she always allowed him to do as he wished, and always forgave him because, at the end, he always got a confession and closed the case"

"Dad says that his old boss was a mentalist for him as well, she knew if you were lying just looking at you, and she was so good in manipulating people… - she smiled, taking a sip of wine – mum, instead, says she was just a good former CIA agent. You know, dad always said that, in order to get a confession, you have to lie and manipulate. He said his boss always said that, weren't they going to lie and manipulate, the cells would be empty, and she got so mad, she gave him the cold shoulders for days – again, PJ fell silent, but this time, his chin resting on his right palm, he was focused on her and her only – PJ, what are you thinking about?"

"My parents will celebrate their 25th anniversary in a couple of weeks"

"Yeah, I think you mentioned something like that" she misled at him, amused, black eyes lost in blue ones, locked.

"Would like to come and meet them?" as she smiled in response, PJ wondered if his father, the great and almighty mentalist who knew everything, the man he was named after, Patrick Michael Jane senior, was going to be right again; what a silly thing to say: Patrick Jane was always right, he had never been wrong his whole life. Yeah, he really loved Kat, and could see the two of them in the long run…

FIN

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So, here it was, the epilogue. I've loved writing every word of this story, because your appreciation made it worth it. hell, i wnated to wrtite a one shot, and i ended making this! As you saw, the story was set into the future, it means there are still things in between, and who knows, maybe one day my children muse will come back and I'll write misisng moments, or who knows... but for now, here we are, and it's complete, as you can see from the word "COMPLETE" on top of the page... :)

By the way, for the ones of you who are part of the jello forever forum: the jellies are accepting nominees. i'm not saying, say my name, just, if you are interested, there are a lot of aamzing writers out there :)

I had a real great time, and I hope I'll be back soon with more Mentalist stories for you all... emnawhile, I'll keep following all you stories here as well!


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